Tales of Angels
by Derek the Demon Prince
Summary: When faced with decisions to save the worlds, a young boy must grow into a powerful swordsman. Story Remake: Crossover with Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy VII, Naruto, and Devil May Cry. Completely different than before. Shelloyd main. Many others
1. Prelude

**Welcome to my Tales of Symphonia fanfiction. Now this is basically a remake of the storyline but it happens three years earlier. This is a Shelloyd fic and I plan on adding various crossovers (This will not be nearly the same as you remember, I'm not kidding. Nowhere near the same). I don't own Tales of Symphonia.**

It started off as another peaceful day in the village of Iselia where the gentle winds blow, the shines in a blue sky with few clouds to look at. The villagers attended to their daily duties and all the children learned in Professor Raine Sage's school...well, almost all of them.

"Lloyd! How many times do I have to tell you? Stop sleeping in my class,"an angry woman screamed at him. This woman was Professor Raine, an elven instructor who taught the villagers. She has silvery white hair and dark blue eyes wearing a brownish orange garment. She is usually known as very calm and intelligent but those who really know her claims she has a short temper and an unhealthy obsession for ruins.

As Raine screamed, a fourteen year old boy jumped out of his seat and panted heavily. This is Lloyd, he was found in the forest by a dwarf at the age of two. He has brown spiked hair with red-brown eyes, he wears a red jacket with black pants that his dwarven father made. He is an outsider and not too many people think he's bright. He is an idealist who believes in helping others despite the fact that the village constantly berates him for his stupidity. But little does everybody know it, Lloyd can be pretty smart at times and he is an up and coming swordsman with a unique style with two swords he invented on his own.

Anyway, Lloyd has a habit of sleeping of in class when it was becoming too boring which happened to be five minutes ago.

"Sorry Professor Raine, is class over," Lloyd asked hopeful. Everyone else started cowering fearfully under their desks. Raine had started twitching, it was unfortunate that this happened everyday.

"Lloyd, class started only five minutes ago," Raine answered eerily calm. Lloyd gulped. "FIVE MINUTES AND WE ALREADY HAVE TO DO THIS," Raine screamed. Lloyd gave a nervous laugh in reply. Raine sighed and started walking around and helping the other students.

Lloyd relaxed and sat down. He silently opened his book and pretended to read it. He hated reading, he didn't know what good reading would do in life because frankly it hasn't did any good so far besides bore him. He heard two girls in the back gossiping and spreading rumors. He eventually heard his name and turned around to wave at them giving a genuine smile. They both rolled their eyes while one of them commented how big of an idiot he was under her breath. Lloyd turned around keeping his smile as he pretended to read once more.

"I can't believe him, this happens everyday," one of them remarked loud enough for Lloyd.

"I know, he's such a stupid idiot, he never gets anything right, he constantly makes stupid comments, and he doesn't learn even after so long. How is it possible to be so stupid," the other replied just as loud.

"I bet it's because he was raised by a dwarf with bad parenting skills. I hear that dwarves are the stupidest creatures to...," she continued to comment but Lloyd refused to listen anymore and his smile faded. There are few things in the world that pissed Lloyd off and bad-mouthing Dirk was one that was near the top of the list. Lloyd raised his hand.

"Yes Lloyd," Rained asked noticing Lloyd's aggravated look.

"Can I use the bathroom," Lloyd asked quietly. Raine nodded and Lloyd got up to leave. He walked out of the class and straight out the front door, he was getting sick of class and needed to leave. He knew he would get in trouble later but, "Now is now, later is later," Lloyd told himself. He took a deep breath as he walked across the village looking at the sky. As he walked into a crowd of people, he randomly stated, "Looks like it's going to storm tonight." As he stated this, everyone looked at him as if he was an insane psycho killer. The sky was blue with very few clouds off to the east, however, the wind was blowing to the west.

"What in heavens do you mean? It's such a nice day," an elderly woman stated pointing at the sky. The rest of the villagers stared at Lloyd like he was an idiot. Lloyd grinned. He found it ridiculous that the villagers all questioned his ability to think. He just happened to be right the last ten times he predicted a storm was coming.

"You'll see," Lloyd said confidently as he trailed off to the entrance of the village. He often wondered why Dirk was so persistent to get Lloyd to come to school at the village. Dirk did say it was for Lloyd to be taught with his own kind but Lloyd did not view himself as one of them. But it did bring him to Genis and Colette so he left it at that. If it wasn't for his friends, Lloyd would've stopped coming a long time ago. Besides, he did good in Art and PE so it's all good (or so he tells himself). He arrived at the village gate and saw the guards eyeing his dog Noishe as it stared in return. The two guards noticed Lloyd's arrival.

"Lloyd, this _thing _has been staring at us all day and it's freaking me out," one of them complained. Lloyd sighed.

"He was just waiting for me. How many times do I have to tell you that Noishe is a dog," Lloyd asked rolling his eyes.

"Well, regardless of what it is, it can't be in the village, remember," the other stated sneering at him. A few years back, Noishe was happily welcomed into the village. People loved playing with him. But one day a few children decided to throw rocks at Lloyd and Noishe attacked them. Noishe has been banned ever since.

"Yeah, yeah, keep your helmet on. Come on Noishe," Lloyd replied cooly as he called to Noishe so they could leave. Noishe whined and slowly followed Lloyd. The both journeyed to the entrance of the forest. As they walked Noishe was whining more and more. "Geez Noishe, you're whiny today," Lloyd remarked getting another whine as a reply. They reached the entrance and Noishe barked and started nudging Lloyd. Lloyd was confused. Usually every time they arrived at the forest, Noishe would whine and run off. But Lloyd noticed that Noishe seemed to beg Lloyd to come with him and that's unusual. It seemed that Noishe was very afraid of something that lurked in the forest. However...

"Noishe, you're just being more paranoid than usual," Lloyd said. Noishe just whined and ran off. Lloyd shrugged and continued through the forest. The only thing that he found odd was that there was no monsters (rabid bunnies and plants with the occasional wolves) running around. Everything seemed to be hiding. Lloyd however pushed it off and continued to walk. Passing the Desian Ranch, Lloyd noticed that the temperature seemed to be dropping. Lloyd looked up at the sky and saw that it was beginning to fill with clouds.

'_Storm's coming sooner than I thought,' _Lloyd thought. He figured he should arrive at home earlier so he'd have time to train. He saw a mercenary the other day performing artes that he wanted to try, the only one he knew so far was Demon Fang. So far, he thought he was doing pretty good for being self-taught. He saw a total of five artes performed but out of all of them, he could only understand how one of them worked. The others he would work on in due time.

He arrived at his house and took a deep breath. He saw Dirk working outside while making house preparations for the storm. He was in middle of boarding the windows. He saw Lloyd in corner of his eye and turned to him.

"Hi dad, do you need any help with anything," Lloyd asked politely. Dirk just gave Lloyd a questioning look and stared at him.

"Lad, what are yeh doin out of school already," Dirk asked curiously as he raised and eyebrow. He started tapping his foot against the ground. Lloyd was twitching and he nervously gulped. He completely forgot about his father's reaction.

"I umm...there's a storm coming and I thought you needed help, hehe," Lloyd said while nervously laughing. He was only half-lying since there really was a storm coming.

"Dwarven Vow Number Eleven, **"Lying is the first step down to a path of thievery"**. Tell me the truth, why'd yeh leave," Dirk asked once more.

"People in the village were being rough so I left," Lloyd explained reluctantly.

"Lloyd, yeh can't do that every time somethin' goes bad. Yeh know what happens if yeh drop out of school," Dirk said. Lloyd sighed. He would have to stay home and help his father with his work and he knew that was no fun.

"Yeah, yeah I know. So what do you want me to do," Lloyd asked changing the subject.

"Well, I'm pretty much done 'ere lad so yeh should run along and go train before it rains," Dirk answered in which Lloyd replied with a wide grin. In less than a second, Lloyd was already running towards the middle of the forest and yet he still noticed no monsters.

"Today's getting weirder and weirder, oh well, maybe I'm just lucky today," Lloyd said, and he left it at that. Unsheathing his wooden swords from their scabbards, he got ready for his daily training. He first decided to remove his exesphere. "Hmm...I hope this works," he thought out loud.

"Demon Fang!" He brought the wooden sword on his right to the ground, charged mana into the blade, and swung it forward emitting a shockwave that moved along the ground for a time until it eventually dispersed into nothingness. Lloyd dropped to his knees and started panting heavily losing his grip on his swords. "Damn it," he panted out. He reached for his exesphere and reattached it to his right hand. He instantly felt it's energy flow through him. "I'm nothing without this gem," he commented staring at it. He wanted to practice the other artes that he saw before but he felt that he could only master one of them without any prior knowledge. Lloyd sighed and picked up his weapons to prepare for the next attack. He walked towards on of the many trees in the forest and stared it down.

He charged mana into the blade on his right and drew the sword back. "Sonic Thrust!" He thrust the sword forward into the tree and it went right through it like paper. Lloyd grinned, he was right after all. But he didn't know how the other ones worked with mana. If only he had seen them one more time...

Lloyd felt drops of rain land on him. He looked up into the sky and beyond the trees to see dark gray clouds that were growing numerous in numbers.

"Come on! Just a little longer," Lloyd pleaded. As if replying, the rain poured harder and showed no signs of stopping. Lightning started soon filled the air. "Guess I should head home," Lloyd said as he made a sprint to his house. Lloyd made it back to his home and saw Noishe sleeping soundly under his little shed. Lloyd yawned and opened his door. Dirk was cooking his Dwarven Pot Luck Surprise when he noticed Lloyd walk in.

"Welcome back, dinner's almost finished," Dirk said finishing up his cooking, He was blindfolded and unfortunately for Lloyd, he was throwing many inedible things into the stew. Dirk finished his cooking and removed his blindfold to serve Lloyd and himself their bowls. They sat at the table and took their time removing everything inedible from their food (socks, knives, etc.)

"So, how'd yer training go," Dirk asked making conversation.

"Ish wens gred," Lloyd replied with his mouth full. Dirk looked at Lloyd expectantly. Lloyd swallowed his food and repeated himself. "It went great, I learned this really cool stab attack. It was awesome, my sword went right through the tree," Lloyd explained exuberantly. Dirk nodded in reply. They spent the rest of their dinner making small conversation before finishing their food and heading of to their beds. Lloyd felt so tired that he just jumped into the bed with his clothes on and fell asleep just like that. What Lloyd didn't know, was that sleep he fell into, would probably be the last peaceful sleep he would have for a long time. He would not expect a loud air piercing scream of a kunoichi.

**That's the end of the chapter, I apologize for it being so short but I didn't feel the need to drag out the prologue any further. I hope you all liked it and I ask for any reviews whether they will be compliments or flames. I would also like some ideas on what games that this fanfiction will be crossed over with though do remember there won't be any major changes to the storylines I have planned. I still promise you this will be nowhere near the same. If you have any ideas, please review. I hoped you all enjoyed!**


	2. Meeting a friend

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Hi, glad you all liked my first chapter. Next will be where it all begins, I don't own Tales of Symphonia. That rightfully belongs to Namco. (I think you'll like what Lloyd learns in this chapter.)

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Lloyd awoke from his sleep panting heavily. "Did I just imagine somebody screaming," he asked himself. A terrible roar erupted from the forest. Lloyd quickly jumped out of his bed and dressed himself in his usual dwarven clothing. He grabbed his wooden swords and ran straight out the door in his room. He stupidly ran off the balcony and fell flat on his face. Quickly getting up, he brushed himself off. He looked up into the extremely cloudy night sky, rain was pouring with some slight hail, his only light was the lighting that struck. "Damn, I don't have time to sit around," he thought out loud. He ran into the forest leaving behind a half-awake Dirk wondering what was going on.

Lloyd ran through the forest without a single clue about where he was going, but he noticed that the further he got, the colder it seemed to get. He body started shaking as he ran, he stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He noticed that he could see it. "What the hell? It's summer, right," he asked himself. Another roar erupted through the forest. Lloyd instantly knew where he needed to go after that. He ran towards the direction of the monster's roar passing by a small pond, it seemed to freeze right as he ran past it. He was getting very close as he heard the sound of branches being destroyed and clanging metal. He withdrew his swords from their sheathes and jumped into a clearing. There he saw a girl dressed in purple that had extremely dark violet hair (that could easily be mistaken for black hair) and wore a pink ribbon around her waist. But the other thing he saw was a giant black skeleton with four huge broad-swords attached to each of it's arms. The woman was on her knees bleeding badly, the skeleton was about to finish her off.

"Demon Fang," Lloyd exclaimed sending a shockwave at the skeleton. The shockwave hit the skeleton's ankle causing it to turn it's attention to Lloyd. It moved slowly towards him. Lloyd grinned, this would be too easy. Lloyd charged towards it and tried to attack. He was instantly knocked back into a tree. He slumped onto the ground, a little blood flowing from his mouth and trickling down his face. _"Damn, that thing's really strong, up close he's pretty fast," _he thought to himself. _"I can't use Demon Fang over and over again either, I don't have the mana."_ Lloyd stood up and ran at the skeleton. He ducked under a swipe from on of it's swords and jumped into the air towards it's face. "Sonic Thrust," he exclaimed as he thrust the sword into the top of it's skull. The skeleton grunted before throwing Lloyd off him by shaking it's head violently. It pulled the wooden sword out and crushed it like a twig. Lloyd twitched. _"Damn it, if I do that again and lose this sword, I'm screwed," _Lloyd thought eyeing his enemy. He then looked at the woman. _"At this rate, I'm going to lose, so I should get her to safety before something happens."_

Lloyd ran over to the girl thanking Martel that the monster was so freaking slow. "Hey, you alright," Lloyd asked her, she just stared at him. "Never mind, look, if you run in that direction, there's a village," Lloyd said pointing to his left, he immediately wished he hadn't the monster was inching towards from that direction. "Dammit, stubborn bastard, I'll distract it, do you think you can make it far enough," Lloyd asked her.

"I'll be fine, but how in the hell do you plan to kill that thing with that," the girl replied pointing to his wooden sword. Lloyd sighed.

"I'll manage, now hurry up and go," he said. The girl looked unsure but she left anyway running around the monster. "Demon Fang," Lloyd exclaimed keeping it focused on him. The plan failed. The monster turned to the girl and backhanded her, she soon fell unconscious. While she was is no real danger, it pissed off Lloyd. "You Bastard," he yelled charging at it. He swung the wooden sword so hard that the monster's arm was removed from it's body. He then kicked it in the face pushing it back a few feet. Lloyd then jumped for another attack only to be smacked into the ground, he landed on his back. Just before Lloyd got up, he was impaled by one of the broad-swords. He was pinned to the ground. He eyes widened and excruciating pain over-took him. "What the hell," he weakly spat out. Blood and nearly frozen water soaked his body as he struggled to remove the sword. He knew he couldn't lift it more or less remove it. The skeleton turned way from Lloyd, thinking it had finished him off and turned to the girl. Lloyd saw this. "N-no," he managed to spit out. He was not heard. "L-leave her alone, damn -y-you," he muttered as loudly as possible.

Though he didn't know it, the exesphere started emanating an abhorrent amount of power, clouding him in white energy. His eyes started to glow a fierce white as he eyed the monster. His face that was revealing pain soon changed to one revealing anger. "LEAVE HER ALONE," he screamed yanking the sword out of his stomach and jumping to his feet. He held the huge broadsword in his right hand. And blood poured from his body. No normal human would be able to stand after withstand such injuries. He was clouded in white aura that gave off raw power. It was almost as if he wasn't conscious. He didn't even flinch when he yanked out the giant blade from his body. He faced the skeleton and charged towards it at an insane speed. He jumped into the air and raised up the inhumanely huge sword before bringing it down, slicing the skeleton right in half.

Lloyd turned towards the monster's remains panting heavily, dropping the sword. The white aura dissipated around him and his eyes returned to normal. He then walked towards the purple clad girl. "Alright, lets-," Lloyd never finished for he fell to the ground unconscious landing right next to the girl on the cold blood-soaked ground.

A dark figure in the trees looked unto the two and the monster. "I must report to Lord Forcystus." With that, the dark figure disappeared without a trace.

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_The next day..._

Lloyd awoke on his bed with blurry vision. "Wow, what a dream," he said as he tried to sit up. As soon as he did, an intense pain overtook him and forced him to lie back down. He then noticed bandages wrapped around his waist. "Gah, Holy crap, that really hurts, what happened anyway," he asked himself. "All I remember was seeing this girl and a black skeleton, and then...damn," Lloyd muttered. Lloyd rubbed his eyes in a attempt to fix his blurry vision. He then saw he was in his room. "How did I get back here?" He sat up again ignoring the immense pain and got out of his bed, he dressed himself with difficulty (falling on his face) and limped his way to the stairs. He successfully made it down without falling and saw Dirk talking with his teacher Raine. He also saw the girl from last night sound asleep. _"So it wasn't a dream..."_ Lloyd sighed. Rained and Dirk both turned their attention to Lloyd.

"Mornin' lad," Dirk greeted.

"Morning," Lloyd replied grinning.

"It's a bit surprising to see you awake Lloyd, it should have been awhile with your injuries. I'm surprised that you woke up before she did," Raine said mentioning the girl. Lloyd looked at her.

"Oh really," Lloyd said curiously. He inwardly grinned.

"Next time you decide to play the hero, you should be a little bit more careful. Well, I'll be taking my leave," Raine said standing up.

"I'll escort ye back to town miss, be safe Lloyd," Dirk said.

"Don't move around to much, you need more time to heal," Raine warned him.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine," Lloyd said offhandedly. Raine and Dirk walked out the door. Lloyd walked up to the window and watched them walked into the forest until he was sure they were out of sight. "You can quit pretending to be asleep now," Lloyd said startling the girl. She sat up.

"How did you know," she asked. Lloyd looked towards her. Lloyd grinned.

"I didn't, you just told me," Lloyd replied. The girl's eyes widened in surprise. "Besides, from the way the Professor talked about, you should've been awake before I was," Lloyd explained. Lloyd now actually got a look at her. Her face was bruised pretty badly. Lloyd had a downcast expression after seeing this. He also noticed her eyes, they were a fierce brown, but they almost seemed gentle. Lloyd also saw blood-stains in her clothes and sighed. "How did you run into that thing anyway," Lloyd asked her.

"I was searching for a town to gather supplies," she answered rather quickly, Lloyd however, took no notice of this. She then grunted in pain. "Damn!"

"I know, sucks huh," Lloyd sympathized with her, his back was killing him, and he didn't even know why. She stared at him incredulously.

"How did you beat that thing with wooden sticks as weapons," she asked him. Lloyd laughed.

"Actually, I don't have a clue, I can't remember anything," Lloyd explained grinning. "I don't remember falling unconscious either, maybe dad fought it off or something, I'll ask later."

Their stomachs growled simultaneously. "Heh, sounds like we're hungry, I'll make some sandwiches or something," Lloyd said walking into the kitchen and gathering the necessary supplies. "So what's your name," Lloyd asked.

"...Sheena," she replied slowly. Lloyd maintained his happy-go-lucky grin.

"I'm Lloyd. So where you from," Lloyd asked trying to keep a conversation going.

"...Triet," Sheena replied quietly. Lloyd raised an eyebrow. He remembered a mercenary that visited from Triet, from what Lloyd knew, people in Triet did not dress like Sheena did. But Lloyd pushed it off, what did he know, it's not like he ever visited there before.

"I see, so what are you going to do for the next few days," Lloyd asked her. She didn't answer. Lloyd finished making the sandwiches and brought them over to Sheena. He took one and ate it happily. Sheena just eyed hers.

"You know, it's not like it'll bite you or anything," Lloyd said. Sheena sighed before eating hers. They sat in silence for awhile eating their food. It was boring the hell out of Lloyd but he maintained his grin since he loved eating.

"If you need, you could stay here for a few days, you're injured and you were looking for supplies, I could help," Lloyd said. Sheena thought for a second before shaking her head.

"I don't want to out-stay my welcome," she said. Lloyd's grin wasn't as forced as it was before.

"Nonsense, stay long as you like, I'll ask dad when he gets home," Lloyd said. Sheena shook her head.

"I don't want to be a burden," Sheena said.

"C'mon please," Lloyd asked. Sheena sighed.

"Alright fine, I'll stay for a few days," Sheena replied rolling her eyes.

Lloyd's grin wasn't forced anymore and he screamed in his mind, _**"YES!"**_ He finished eating and would've burped but remembered a distinct Dwarven Vow in which he should maintain his manners in front of a lady or something like that.

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Over the next few days, Sheena started to talk more and though she wouldn't admit it, was becoming close friends with Lloyd. The time when Dirk served his Dwarven Pot Luck Surprise ignited an argument in which Sheena refused to eat seeing how Dirk cooked the meal blind-folded throwing random items into the pot and stirring it. Then seeing Lloyd removing inedible things from his bowl (socks, horseshoes, keys, etc.) almost made her throw up. Lloyd reluctantly made her a sandwich before going back to his stew. Another weird moment was the sleeping arrangements, since Dirk slept on the only couch downstairs, and there was only one bed, Lloyd and Sheena panicked. However, Lloyd eventually decided to sleep on the floor trying to be a gentleman which sparked another argument in which Sheena insisted Lloyd sleep on the bed when she should sleep on the floor because Lloyd was fatally injured when she wasn't. Lloyd insisted upon being stubborn and taking the floor. This eventually ended when Dirk screamed at them to share the freaking bed which made them shut up and let Lloyd take the floor. That in turn brought up an awkward argument with Dirk the next morning where Lloyd and Sheena completely agreed to blaming Dirk for. Then Dirk made things awkward when he mentioned something about them acting like they were a married couple. Lloyd for once couldn't say anything while Sheena told herself that she couldn't kill the person who was showing her hospitality.

"So, how come you were being raised by him anyway," Sheena asked him.

"I'm not sure, I never knew my real parents, my Dad found me and took me in," Lloyd said. Sheena suddenly found her feet interesting. _"Just like me...," _she thought.

"I see, I'm sorry," she replied. Lloyd grinned.

"Don't apologize for it, it's not like it's your fault. Besides, as long as I have Dad and my friends, nothing could go wrong," Lloyd said. Sheena still found her feet interesting.

"_He's luckier than I am though_, _or maybe...,"_ she thought before being interrupted.

"Hey, don't be so sad about, that's in the past, we have the future to worry about, right," Lloyd asked. Sheena grinned.

"Right." Lloyd stared at Sheena, that was the first time he saw her smile the whole time she stayed. He grinned widely. Though they didn't know it, Dirk overheard their conversation.

"So what do you want to do, we could head out to the village today since I'm nice and healed or maybe you could train with me," Lloyd suggested really wanting to train. Sheena could tell just by looking at him.

"Well, I do need to get some new clothes so we might not have much time for training," Sheena joked. Lloyd paled.

"_Oh god, __**shopping?!**_ _No, anything but that," _Lloyd thought frantically. He remembered when Colette wanted a few things from the store. _"Never again, I don't make enough Gald as it is."_

"But I suppose I could put that off till tomorrow, let's go train," Sheena said. Lloyd sighed in relief.

"_There is a goddess," _he thought to himself. They both headed out onto the field where Lloyd trained the other day. Lloyd started doing pushups for ten minutes straight before switching to sit-ups and numerous stretches. He felt really tired. "Damn, why is it that you lose strength three times faster than you gain it," Lloyd said panting for air.

"That's what happens after a few days of sitting around injured," Sheena replied. Lloyd laughed.

"And I'm sure risking my life for you had nothing to do with this," Lloyd replied jokingly. Sheena found her feet interesting again.

"Thanks," she said suddenly. Lloyd raised an eye. "I never did thank you for what you did."

"Don't worry about, Dwarven Vow Number Two, Never Abandon Somebody In Need," Lloyd replied grinning. Sheena looked up and stared at Lloyd thoughtfully before grinning.

"The world needs more nicer people like you," she said. Lloyd grinned sheepishly.

"Nah, I'm not that great, I just do what I feel," Lloyd replied. He reached for his swords before realizing something. "Damn, my swords, where'd they go," he thought out loud. He then remembered the monster destroying one of them.

"You know, you should probably learn how to defend yourself without weapons incase something like this happens," Sheena said giving Lloyd an idea.

He ran out to the middle of the field and charged his mana into his fist. Sheena looked on curiously. He finished charging mana into his fist and ran up to a random tree. He punched the tree while releasing all the mana in his fist. The tree exploded on impact surprising Lloyd and Sheena.

"Whoa," they both said simultaneously. "That was cool," Lloyd said grinning, he just invented his new way of fighting. He dubbed his move Impact. He wondered if he could re-create Demon Fang without using a sword so he decided to try it. He charged his mana to his fore-arm and wrist and lowered it to the ground. He then brought his arm to the ground before raising it back up while releasing his mana. It created a shockwave of energy (though it did not travel as far as Demon Fang). He and Sheena were surprised yet again.

"AWESOME," Lloyd exclaimed loudly. He dubbed his other technique Demon Fist. He grinned, he learned, no, created two new techniques of his own in the span of a few minutes. Before heading home, he practiced his two new techniques some more and received instructions from Sheena on how to fight with his hands and feet. Then once he finally got the hang of it, they headed home and got ready for a long day tomorrow. They fell asleep ready for whatever would come.

**That's the end of the chapter, I thought it would be cool if Lloyd could learn some of Senel's moves from Tales of Legendia. I hope you all liked and if you have any suggestions for crossovers, then shoot away, I already have an idea for two of them.**


	3. Winds of Banishment

**Hey what's up? I was really bored so I decided to update really fast. It's only been a day since last time. I usually take at least a week!**

**For those of you wondering about the Sword Dancer from the last chapter, it didn't drop the items or say anything because I didn't plan on it being a part of the main story, but now that this has come to my attention, I think I might re-introduce it later.**

**I would like to know about the possible crossover ideas as well. I liked the idea that ****Phsyc ****gave me about World of Warcraft but to be completely honest, I don't have the slightest idea what it's about, I've never played it before. But nevertheless, I will try and make an effort.**

**As I said earlier, Lloyd will be learning some of Senel's Artes from Tales of Legendia and I want a honest opinion on whether he should learn some of Luke's Artes from Tales of the Abyss. That will be worried about when the time comes. So please enjoy reading. I don't own Tales of Symphonia or anything from Tales of Legendia.**

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Lloyd and Sheena woke up in somewhat of a gloomy mood, Sheena would leave that day and continue her journey. They decided the day before that they would head to Iselia to gather supplies before she left and hang around. They both left before even eating and walked through the forest. The pair ran into a pack of wolves.

"Damn, and here I thought I'd get lucky again and there would be no monsters today," Lloyd complained.

"Quit whining about it, besides, here's your chance to use the Artes you created yesterday," Sheena replied. Lloyd grinned.

"I forgot about those..." Lloyd jumped into the fight and counted the wolves. _"Six huh, sounds too easy," _Lloyd thought cocky. One of the wolves lunged at Lloyd only to be met by Lloyd's fist. Lloyd ran right into the middle of the pack and charged at one of the wolves. "Impact!" Lloyd charged mana into his fist and drove it into the wolf's skull instantly shattering it. He then kicked another of the wolves into the air. "Demon Fist!" Lloyd sent a shockwave towards where the wolf would land and it hit the wolf knocking it unconscious. Lloyd quickly ducked underneath two lunging wolves before sending a Demon Fist shockwave in each of their direction. That left him with one who was either brave or too stupid to run. Lloyd decided to try using Demon Fist and Impact in a combo but failed miserably when the wolf ran around his attack and jumped out of the way when Lloyd tried to hit it with Impact. Lloyd knew he was running short on mana. "That's it," Lloyd said as he moved in, using some of the training he received from Sheena on hand-to-hand combat. He kicked the wolf into the air before jumping after it. Lloyd then punched the wolf endlessly in the air before slamming his left leg into it knocking it unconscious. He sighed as he dusted himself off.

"I'll give that a seven out of ten," Sheena said analyzing Lloyd's performance, Lloyd didn't cope with this.

"What? That was at least a nine," Lloyd exclaimed.

"Please, you over-used your energy, missed with two potential finishers, left yourself open to numerous attacks that the wolves did not notice, and you were being too flashy," Sheena replied bluntly. Lloyd sighed.

"Everyone's a critic," he muttered to himself as he decided to continue the journey through the forest. They walked through the forest running into bunny rabbits, hornets, weird plants, and the occasional wolf or two. Sheena gave out pointers while Lloyd fought off all the creatures. Eventually, Lloyd asked why she wasn't helping since, "You're so great at fighting," and was getting annoyed. Sheena just grinned and did not reply. They eventually made it into the village with Noishe joining them as soon as they left the forest.

"If Noishe doesn't like going into the forest since he so scared of monsters, then how does he get to your house and back here," Sheena asked curiously. Lloyd stopped walking for a moment and stared at Noishe.

"I...I have no clue, he just always did," Lloyd answered now wondering how Noishe got around the forest himself, Lloyd was sure that the only way was through the forest unless if you like mountain climbing by the Martel Temple. Lloyd was pretty sure Noishe couldn't climb... "Well, no use wondering about it now," Lloyd said and he left it at that. Sheena was still pretty curious. However, she didn't really look into since it doesn't really matter to her anyway. Noishe stayed at the entrance to Iselia much to the despair of the guards and walked around. They walked by Genis and Raine's home and stopped by to chat with the really young elf. Genis looked like he was nine wearing smaller versions of his clothes when he was older.

"Hey Genis, how's it going," Lloyd asked. The boy instantly forgot whatever he was doing and ran up to Lloyd.

"Lloyd! You're back, I thought you got hurt, was this the girl Raine said you protected," Genis asked looking at Sheena. Lloyd nodded furiously and had this heroic look on his face making Genis mutter a 'wow' while Sheena sighed. Lloyd then grinned sheepishly after looking at the disgusted look of Sheena's face.

"Knowing Lloyd, he probably just made it worse when he showed up," Genis joked. Lloyd hit him over the head.

"Shut it Genis," Lloyd said. Genis muttered an 'ow'. "So what do you want to do now? We could look for Colette," Lloyd said.

"Who's Colette," Sheena asked curiously. Lloyd and Gens looked at her almost like she was stupid.

"You're kidding right? The Chosen of Salvation," Genis answered in disbelief. Sheena all the sudden had a downcast expression on her face.

"Right...I remember now...," Sheena replied somewhat darkly. Lloyd raised an eye at this.

"So can I come," Genis asked excitedly. Lloyd shook his head.

"Don't you have homework or something to do," Lloyd said. Genis sighed.

"That's right, mid-terms are coming up, cath you later Lloyd," Genis said before running off. After a few seconds Genis stopped and growled in frustration. "Hey, wait a minute," Genis exclaimed. "You have homework too," Genis yelled but Lloyd and Sheena were long gone.

* * *

Lloyd and Sheena decided to stop by the Academy and say hi to Raine while thanking her for healing them.

"Hey Professor! Thanks for the other night," Lloyd exclaimed. Raine looked at them.

"Not at all, say...why aren't you still in bed Lloyd," Raine asked in a demonic tone. Lloyd paled.

"_Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap," _Lloyd thought over and over again in his head until he got an idea. "Oh My Goddess, is that Genis playing on the roof," Lloyd exclaimed pointing out the window. Raine quickly turned to look while Lloyd quickly disappeared dragging Sheena with him who laughed the entire time.

"I don't see Genis... LLOYD!?" Rained screams could be heard all over Sylvarant. Lloyd and Sheena laughed as they were now on the other side of the village. The other villagers who walked by called them weirdos which caused them to calm down.

"Phew, I didn't think that would work so well," Lloyd said wiping a few tears from his eyes. He laughed way too hard as he was now gasping for air. Sheena nodded in agreement. They headed into the shop and bought Sheena some supplies and food so she could be on her way, which according to what she found out, wouldn't be very far at all...

"Is Colette your friend," Sheena asked bringing it up. Lloyd looked at her.

"Yep, we've been friend since Dad brought me in," Lloyd said. Sheena looked into the blue sky.

"We're friends, right," she asked slowly causing Lloyd to raise an eye.

"Umm... Yeah, I think it's safe to say we're good friends," Lloyd replied. Sheena looked at him for awhile before sighing.

"I think it's time I left," she said. Lloyd gave her a genuine smile.

"Anytime you want, you're welcome to hang around," Lloyd replied. Sheena gave a light smile.

"Yeah, I'll come by sometime, maybe-," she was cut off by a loud explosion that occurred. Lloyd and Sheena turned towards the entrance to see it on fire, with men in red and grey armor marching into the village. Desians were invading the village. Lloyd growled. Many buildings were set on fire. Numerous screams were heard.

"Sheena, get the villagers to safety, I'll handle them," Lloyd said. Sheena nodded and Lloyd jumped out into the village square and started knocking out random Desians with his fists, he made sure to keep his exesphere hidden while he did so. He eventually stole two swords and started slashing through them rapidly. The Desians all turned their attention to Lloyd as he already took out twenty of them. Lloyd slashed one up into the air while awkwardly stabbing one in a very sad placed to be stabbed, that Desian was a man... Ignoring this, Lloyd finished the two off before moving on to the rest of them. Seeing two Desians charge at him, he sent a Demon Fang after each of them knocking them out. The Desians started to pale, Lloyd was taking out their entire army one by one and showed no signs of fatigue.

"Everybody stop, this boy is mine," a man said. The Desians and reluctantly Lloyd stopped fighting (not before cutting another one down) A man walked out with green hair and a red visor over his left eye, the most noticeable trait was that he had a golden cannon for his right arm. He looked rather intimidating compared to the rest of the Desians. "Well, you must be Lloyd, you are quite skilled to last this long," the man said.

"Who are you," Lloyd demanded to know. The man chuckled.

"I am Forcystus, of the Five Desian Grand Cardinals. I own the ranch where we cultivate you pathetic humans. You have something we would like very much. You can quit hiding the source of your power," Forcystus said. Lloyd reluctantly took off the white cloth wrapped around his wrist that revealed his exesphere. Forcystus grinned. "So it's true, that exesphere is the Angelus Project, hand it over," Forcystus said holding out his hand.

"No, go get your own," Lloyd exclaimed somewhat childishly. Forcystus laughed.

"Very well, if we can have your mother killed for it, we can have you killed," Forcystus said surprising Lloyd.

"What? You guys killed my mom," Lloyd asked angrily.

"That's right, and the same will happen to you if you don't hand it over," Forcystus replied darkly. Lloyd started shaking angrily. "Oh, what's the matter, little Lloyd going to cry," Forcystus mocked him. White aura surrounded the furiously shaking Lloyd. "Show me the power of the Angelus Sphere," Forcystus exclaimed. Lloyd looked up at him, his eyes blocked out by unholy white energy.

"**Shut the hell up," **Lloyd spat out. Forcystus raised an eye. **"I-I-...I WON'T FORGIVE YOU," **Lloyd yelled slamming a sword into the ground. It sent a massive shockwave towards Forcystus and the Desian Army, Forcystus jumped into the air while the shockwave behind him killed countless Desians, he flinched as he heard their screaming. He landed on the ground grinning despite the loss of about a tenth of his army.

"So that's the power of the Angelus Sphere, that power will make me the leader of the Five Grand Cardinals," Forcystus exclaimed. In less than a millisecond, Lloyd was in front of the Desian Hero and punched him, sending Forcystus flying a few feet before landing on his feet. Lloyd held only one of the swords he stole since the other one was destroyed under the pressure of Lloyd's demonic attack. Forcystus knew he had to make a move quick. He shot his wind cannon at Lloyd forcing him into the air and started chanting a spell.

"Gentle winds, gather before me and transform into blades of air. Cyclone," Forcystus chanted. Lloyd was instantly picked up into the air by a wind tornado and was slashed rapidly. He screamed in pain before the tornado of wind dissipated leaving him to fall on his hands and knees.

Forcystus laughed. "Is that all you got, how pitiful," Forcystus was disappointed. The white aura around Lloyd intensified at the as he gave out a loud scream. Forcystus shielded his eyes along with anyone watching, the power was too bright.

"S-such power," one of the Desians stuttered.

Forcystus scowled. "What the hell is that exesphere, is this the extent of it's power," Forcystus asked himself. Forcystus' eyes widened when he opened them. "Are those?!" He never finished as a inhumanly huge shockwave big enough to destroy Iselia was sent after him. He quickly ordered the Desians to retreat before being consumed by the wave of mana. When the shockwave dissipated, Forcystus was seen on his knees panting. He saved himself and his men with an insanely powerful Guardian spell and even that didn't work fully. "Kvar, when you were trying to make a Cruxis Crystal, how the hell did you end up making that, _thing_," Forcystus thought out loud. "Retreat for now," he ordered, the Desians were quick to comply and they ran into the forest and into the ranch. "We will always come for you as long as you possess that exesphere, always," Forcystus said before falling unconscious. Two Desians carried him off leaving no Desians in the village...alive.

The people watching could not see what happened or if Lloyd was the source of the bright light. All they knew was that the Desians marked Lloyd as an enemy, countless people died in the village, and it was nearly burned to the ground. The mayor walked onto the scene.

"What do we do," one of the villagers asked. Lloyd had fallen unconscious due to the stress of the power. Sheena ran next to Lloyd, she had not seen any part of the battle besides the bright light so she was in the dark of what really happened.

"We should kill him, the Desians marked him as an enemy," another of the villagers said angrily. Sheena twitched at hearing this.

"What are you saying, he nearly gave his life to protect you all," Sheena replied. _"What is wrong with these people?"_

"But he's the reason the Desians are here in the first place," the mayor exclaimed. "They came after the weird exesphere on his hand, they even said they killed his mother to take it. I have no choice but to banish Lloyd so he won't cause anymore problems for the village," the mayor said. Sheena already hated this excuse of a man. "By the power vested in me, I hereby banish Lloyd Irving from the village of Iselia, get him out of my sight," the mayor spat out cruelly.

"You people disgust me," Sheena said throwing Lloyd over his shoulder, he wasn't the only one with an exesphere. She left with Lloyd over her shoulder and got a safe distance away from the village. She sat Lloyd down and started chanting. "I summon thee...Corrine," Sheena stated as a little multiple tailed dog appeared in front of her in a cloud of smoke.

"Hey Sheena, who's this," Corrine asked confused.

"He's a friend of mine, could you send this letter to his dwarf father, his lives in the forest over there, if he asks, tell him I'm borrowing his son and he'll be back in tip-top condition," Sheena said pointing to the Iselia Forest. Corrine nodded before taking the letter in his mouth and running into the forest. Sheena then looked at Lloyd softly. _"You're just like me now..." _She now knew what it was like to know someone who shared her pain. While it made her feel sick, she felt somewhat happy, she shook it off and set up a camp for the both of them. _"It'll be a long journey..."_

**That's the end of this chapter, sad huh, you all may be wondering about the Journey of Regeneration, well, just keep reading and you'll find out. Make sure to tell me if it is a good or bad idea if he learns Artes from Tales of the Abyss. I already have ideas for most of the Artes he'll learn though. Well anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading. Later!**


	4. Realizing a purpose

**Hi and welcome to my next chapter. Sorry about the long update, it's just I bought myself a Wii and Super Smash Brawl. It's been occupying a lot of my time. I just wanted to apologize for that.**

**Now, it has come to my attention that making a crossover with World of Warcraft would be...insanely hard being as it is a MMORPG and I am no good at playing those games. So I apologize ****_Phsyc_** **because I won't be able to do it.**

**Now I will be making one with Final Fantasy VII, in fact, it's probably one of the core reasons this story will be so different than before. Though do remember most of the crossovers will be a surprise.**

**Lastly, I was worried that Lloyd was over-powerful but, (spoiler) I plan on having Lloyd being just as strong as when he defeated Mithos around the same time when he defeated Mithos. So he won't be any stronger when he finished this journey than he was before. The ending result is the same. I just wondered about the possibility of having an Exesphere with different properties. It wouldn't be anything like an Exesphere or Cruxis Crystal. Other than his Exesphere, he's still the same person that we all started the game with. He's still just as...weak (or not strong, however you want to put it). I did it so the story would be somewhat different.**

**I hate making long author's notes (I don't think I'm even allowed to make author notes to begin with) but I should continue with the story. I don't own any Tales trademark.**

* * *

Lloyd awoke in a weird place, he was surrounded by nothingness, he was the only one there, there was nothingness, just white space all around him. He sat up and looked around.

"Where am I," he asked himself, he did not move. Lloyd not feel anything, he couldn't even tell if he was sitting or not. He stood up. Lloyd was confused. "Am I dead," he wondered out loud. He moved his right arm, not even feeling the air push though it like it usually did. He didn't even need to breathe, there was no air to breathe. There was nothing. _"Hmm,"_ Lloyd thought looking down. _"Then what am I standing on?" _As soon as he had this thought he instantly began falling. He however, did not scream. He just fell and fell into an endless abyss of nothingness, he finally felt himself land, but he landed softly. Lloyd raised an eye, he felt himself land, but on what?

"Lloyd," a woman's voice said from right behind him. Lloyd would've turned towards the voice, had he not instantly felt warmth rush over him, the voice was soothing. Lloyd stood still, he could feel someone standing back to back with him. He figured it was a woman. He found himself loving the voice. Like he had always known it.

"Who...who are you," Lloyd asked turning towards the voice. The person was no longer there, and the nothingness transformed into the world Lloyd grew up in, then he felt his eyes slowly close.

Lloyd found himself on the ground again except he was in a field of grass. He sat up. He forgot about his dream quickly because that's all it was, or so he told himself. He was in a sleeping bag and he looked around, it was around noon the next day. He remembered some of what happened. He remembered the Desians and Forcystus. But he didn't remember their fight at all, as if the memory was being blocked, like when he saved Sheena. But he did remember why Forcystus came to the village, and that he was banished. Lloyd realized that he was the reason the village was attacked, it was his fault. He was the reason countless people died.

"Dammit," he said hitting the ground. "Dammit," he growled hitting the ground again, this time, tears were falling from his face. He continued to hit the ground harder and harder each time until his hand was too bruised to continue. "Dammit," he muttered to himself. He wiped his eyes. "Why am I crying, it's my fault they died," he tried to tell himself but he kept crying. "What the hell is wrong with me," he told himself. He didn't deserve to cry because it was his fault. "Crying is only spitting on their memory," he told himself. _"Then why can't I stop?" _

Sheena was nearby destroying a few wolves that thought it was smart to attack them when Lloyd was asleep. She heard Lloyd speak getting distracted. The wolves took the opportunity to flee for their lives. Sheena sighed before walking back to the area where she set up camp. Just as she suspected Lloyd was awake. Upon hearing Sheena arrive, Lloyd regained control of himself.

"I'm...something's wrong with me," Lloyd said suddenly, not even looking at Sheena. "I caused a lot of death at the village, and yet I'm the one crying." Sheena instantly looked at him sympathetically.

"That wasn't your fault, how would you know that Desians were after your exesphere," Sheena argued.

"Dad always told me, that I needed to hide this, so no-one would see it. I didn't know why, but now I think about it, I really knew the whole time," Lloyd said looking at his special exesphere. It was always a different color than the others. Sheena shook her head furiously.

"But they killed your mom in order to take it, you didn't know that, you didn't even know why you were hiding it," Sheena said.

"But that doesn't mean I shouldn't of been suspicious when Dad told me to hide it. I should of asked why," Lloyd argued. "Besides, none of that matters, the villagers were killed and it was because I had this and refused to turn it over. They died because of my actions." Sheena could not find an argument for Lloyd's last remark.

"If that's truly how you feel, then why are you moping around like you're the victim," Sheena asked coldly.

"That's what's wrong with me," Lloyd replied emotionlessly.

"You should be fighting, to atone for what you did." Lloyd's eyes widened. "You should fight, so nobody had to suffer like you did, so nobody has to die the same way the villagers of Iselia did," Sheena said. _"So nobody dies like the people of my village..." _"You're only being a coward," Sheena said darkly.

"You're...right. I was being so stupid," Lloyd stated as he jumped to his feet. "From now on, I swear, that nobody will suffer at the hands of the Desians, I'll find a way to save everyone, mark my words," Lloyd exclaimed. Sheena grinned.

"Now you're talking," She replied now in a better mood.

"Yeah! Now let's get started...Umm... What exactly do we do," Lloyd asked sheepishly. Sheena sighed.

"It beats the hell out of me," she replied. Lloyd grinned.

"Why don't we go back to Iselia and destroy the Desian Ranch," Lloyd suggested.

"That's suicidal. We sure as hell wouldn't accomplish anything and the promise you just made would be meaningless," Sheena answered. _Besides, I have __**that **__to worry about," _Sheena thought to herself. "Let's head to Triet, we would find out a lot more there than anywhere out here."

"Good idea, you're from there anyway," Lloyd said causing Sheena to twitch.

"_Alright then, I guess __**that **__will be my first priority," _Sheena thought darkly. "Alright then, the desert is to the south, we could probably reach Triet by nightfall," Sheena said gathering the camp materials.

"Wait, if it's the desert then shouldn't we stop at the edge of it so we can travel by night, it would be a lot cooler," Lloyd said. He bothered to study about the desert in one of his lessons. Why it was a desert though was beyond him.

"...Sure, good idea," Sheena replied and the group set off. Lloyd remembered his lack of swords and sighed.

He remembered stealing some from Desians but didn't know what happened afterwards. He shrugged it off saying that, "They were pretty crappy."

They ran into few monsters seeing as they decreased in number every-time Lloyd and Sheena fought them off. Lloyd saw how Sheena fought with paper and twitched. "I have got to learn how to do that," Lloyd remarked watching Sheena use Pyre Seal on an unfortunate wolf. He returned to his battle and used Impact on a hawk that dove at him. Lloyd sighed. "My moves are getting boring now, I wish I had and idea on how to use some other ones," Lloyd said with a bored tone in his voice.

"Here," Sheena said handing him a book. Lloyd raised an eye.

"What's this," Lloyd asked curiously.

"A training manual on hand to hand combat, there should be some Artes inside that you can learn. You should use this until you find one for swords," Sheena explained. Lloyd grinned.

"Awesome, let's see what they have here, Swallow Dance, Wyrm Rush, Guardian, and Coil. Not bad, it'll take me a few months to get these. I should start with Guardian since I have no defense moves, seems pretty easy," Lloyd said reading it over.

When in battle, he would continuously try pushing mana to every part of his body and shout out, "Guardian." He wasn't very successful and suffered many blows from the evil bunny rabbit before getting pissed and pulverizing it with Impact twice. "Dammit, what am I doing wrong," Lloyd asked angrily. He apparently did not read the whole section of it and realized he needed to think about things he wanted to protect. "Guardian!" A green force-field appeared around Lloyd for a brief two seconds before dispelling. "Alright, another move to add to my book. Now to test it...Sheena! Throw something at me," Lloyd exclaimed. Sheena had been oblivious and ignored Lloyd's training.

"Why would you want me to throw some thing at you," Sheena asked as if he was crazy.

"Just do it," Lloyd exclaimed. He was surprised to see a knife flying at him a second later. Holy! Guardian," Lloyd exclaimed with no time to think. A green force-field repelled the knife in a random direction. Sheena grinned.

"Not bad, I threw the knife to shut you up but wow," Sheena said.

"Hey! What's the idea, if I didn't learn Guardian, I would've lost an eye," Lloyd shot at her. Sheena grinned.

"Maybe next time, you don't ask me to throw something, I aim to kill," Sheena joked with a serious tone in her voice. Lloyd sighed.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, let's go," Lloyd replied. So they continued to walk until they reached the edge of the desert. Just before complaining about hot it would be in the desert, Lloyd realized that they wouldn't travel through it until nightfall. "Alright! I could kill for a break! Right Sheena?...Sheena," Lloyd asked. He felt something hit the back of his neck and he fell unconscious. He could hear a voice apologizing but he couldn't tell who it was.

Lloyd awoke once more that day. He rubbed his eyes and sat up. He looked around and found himself in a room behind bars, he saw two men in red and gray armor and jumped out of his bed. _"Desians?! Why the hell am I here," _Lloyd thought looking at them.

"Yeah, I feel pretty sorry for that Lloyd kid. There's no way he could possibly escape execution," one of them stated.

"_Execution?! What the hell," _Lloyd exclaimed in his mind. He saw one of the Desians leave the room and the other pace back and forth in front of his cell. _"Damn, if only I had something to hit it with, maybe if I use Demon Fist," _Lloyd thought to himself. He charged mana into his forearm and launched the shockwave at the Desian. The Desian fell unconscious, landing on the button that opened Lloyd's cell. Lloyd grinned as he walked out. He figured he was in one of the Desian bases and it was bound to be huge. He picked up a sword that the Desian had and walked off with it, he needed some weapon to use, he couldn't use his mana and his fists forever. He realized he needed a training manual for his swords as well. It would really help.

He walked towards a door to realize that two Desians were blocking the door. They saw him. "Dammit, prison break," one of them exclaimed. Lloyd jumped in between them and slashed horizontally instantly pushing them both back. The two Desians fell unconscious from blood loss. An alarm went off shortly after.

"Crap, I need to escape," Lloyd said making running into the next room. He saw that it had a mechanism but he didn't bother solving it. Instead, he waited right at the door until two Desians ran though. Before the door closed, he ran to the other side leaving behind the two stunned Desians. The door shut behind him.

"I wonder if Sheena's around," Lloyd thought out loud. He hoped that the Desians didn't get her too. "If she has one scratch on her, I'll tear every last one of them to shreds," Lloyd stated tightening his fist. He snuck up behind a Desian and hit him in the back of his neck knocking the Desian unconscious. He stole another sword before walking into a room with a giant computer in it. He saw all sorts of things. The room kind of looked like a launch pad.

"Wow, what's all of this," Lloyd said looking around. He saw machinery moving out and about in every which way. He shook his head. "Damn, I can't get distracted like this. I have to find a way out of here," he said walking back out. He saw two Desians and they chased him into another room. The door locked behind him. "Whew, that was close," Lloyd said. He sighed in relief.

"Just who the hell are you," another person in the room asked. Lloyd spun around and saw a man with blue hair in a pony-tail, he wore a black cape that covered the rest of his clothing. Lloyd twitched as he saw a ball electricity pointed in his direction.

"Give me your name, and I'll give you mine," Lloyd said ignorantly thinking it would work.

"Hahaha, you certainly have guts. I don't see the need to introduce myself to a weakling like you," the blue haired man replied.

"What a coincidence, cause I don't see the need to introduce myself to a moron who doesn't realize how pathetic he is," Lloyd remarked. The blue haired man's face turned red with anger.

"Why you little-," he was cut off when Lloyd blocked his face with his exesphere. "An exesphere, so you're Lloyd." The door opened behind Lloyd. Another man walked in. He had brown hair that looked like he played with too much electricity. He wore white clothing. "Lord "Yuan, there was a prison break," the man exclaimed. He noticed Lloyd's presence in the room.

"As you can see Botta, I am currently dealing with that," Yuan said not taking his eyes off Lloyd. Botta smirked.

"So you're Lloyd, now this is amusing," he replied. Lloyd looked back and forth between the two, it didn't look like he could take them both on at once.

"Damn," Lloyd muttered under his breath. There was no running either. Botta was blocking the only exit in the whole base. He sighed. He pointed his sword towards Yuan. Yuan smirked.

"So, you think you can defeat me? Botta, handle this, I have better things to do," Yuan said walking off. Lloyd twitched angrily.

"Hey! Where the hell do you think you're going," Lloyd yelled after him. He was bluntly ignored. He rolled his eyes before turning his attention to Botta. He would make Yuan regret underestimating him.

"Now then child, amuse me," Botta said withdrawing a large red sword. It had a crystal attached to the end of it. An exesphere. Lloyd launched a shockwave at Botta before charging at him. Botta side stepped the shockwave and his sword met Lloyd's. Lloyd was easily pushed back. "You're weaker than me child, you should give up," Botta stated.

"Sonic Thrust!" Lloyd's sword went through the exesphere on Botta's. His weapon was then rendered completely useless. Lloyd grinned. "Really. As far as I see it, you're the one weaker than me," Lloyd replied. Botta smirked.

"We'll see about that," Botta said forming a small magic circle under him. Lloyd charged at Botta and lunged at him. "Stone Blast," Botta exclaimed. A few stones from underneath Lloyd shot up and hit him rapidly. Botta then withdrew a blue sword and thrust it into the ground. "Rock Breaker," Botta exclaimed. More stones were launched at Lloyd. Numerous bruises were on his face. Blood trickled down his mouth. Lloyd launched another Demon Fang at Botta. Botta jumped out of the way and cast another magic circle underneath him. "Let's finish this, shall we," Botta said. "Stalagmite!" A large pillar of earth started to form underneath Lloyd. It shot up into the air launching him into the air. Lloyd landed on his side with a loud thud. He coughed up blood. He slowly stood back up.

"Is that the best you can do? You disappoint me child," Botta mocked. Lloyd glared at him. He felt a weird energy pulsing through his exesphere. He looked at it curiously, it felt familiar to him. He felt it trying to force it's way out. He wanted to try and see what would happen if he let it out. He looked at Botta and grinned darkly.

Botta noticed the sudden change in Lloyd's personality. He didn't really have to know Lloyd that something was up. The power surrounded Lloyd and he felt it swirling around him. He liked this power, he wanted more of it. "This feels...pretty good. I like it," he said waving his hand through the energy. He stared at Botta giving him an evil grin. Lloyd knew he had more of this power, but he felt that this was enough to deal with his opponent.

"Demon Fang," Lloyd exclaimed. This shockwave was a lot faster than the last one.. Botta barely dodged it to find that he was face to face with Lloyd. Lloyd kicked Botta into the air. Lloyd jumped after him and used the flat end of his sword to knock Botta towards the ground.

"_Such speed, if I don't do something soon, he might kill me," _Botta thought. He formed a huge magic circle under him. Much lager than the ones before.

"No you don't," Lloyd exclaimed charging at Botta. Lloyd's speed had him instantly in front of his enemy. "Impact," Lloyd exclaimed punching Botta. Botta was launched backwards and he bounced off the ground a few times before he landed on his feet. Lloyd dark grin stretched further. He then started to laugh uncharacteristically. Botta twitched. He decided he didn't like the sound of that laugh.

"How funny, here I thought you were going to finish me," Lloyd taunted. Botta stared at him, not even moving. "What's the matter, are you scared?" Botta still stood still. It didn't take a genius to see that he was planning his next strategy. It wasn't everyday that he fought an energy obsessed Lloyd. Lloyd's facial expression changed into a serious one. "Fine then. If you won't move, the I will," Lloyd exclaimed suddenly charging towards Botta. Almost reaching him, Lloyd suddenly felt a pain in his stomach, rising towards his head. Botta saw the opportunity to counterattack with Rock Breaker. Lloyd was launched back. Lloyd felt immense pain. He looked at his exesphere. _"Is this the cause of it," _Lloyd thought to himself. He also noticed he couldn't move anymore. _"Dammit, move! My body-," _Lloyd's thoughts were interrupted.

"That power came from your exesphere, didn't it," Botta stated more than asked. "That was a lot of power for a mere child possess, human or elf. It's obvious that you're body couldn't handle the pressure. You didn't give it enough years to adapt to that kind of power. That exesphere is useless in your hands," Botta explained, adding in the last comment in disappointment. Lloyd suddenly didn't like that power anymore.

"Bastard," Lloyd spat out. Botta shook his head.

"It seems Yuan was right about your talents. You have the potential to become a power that is unrivaled even by Cruxis. I have a proposition for you," Botta said. Lloyd instantly didn't want to hear it.

"Screw you, I'll never side with the Desians that killed my mother, or any other of the countless innocent people they killed," Lloyd exclaimed fiercely. Joining them is worse than spitting on his mother's memory.

"Which is all the more reason you should join us. I am no Desian, everyone you have met today were not Desians. Were are the Renegades, an organization dedicated to fighting the Desians and Cruxis," Botta explained. Lloyd was instantly confused.

"What do you mean? You guys aren't Desians? Then why'd you kidnap me, and what the hell is Cruxis," Lloyd asked hating the fact that he was confused.

"We dress like Desians to infiltrate their Ranches and to blend in with them. We kidnaped you due to your potential as the key to our success. As for Cruxis, you need to swear your loyalty. I can't go around giving that information to just anyone," Botta explained. Lloyd found Botta's reasons decent enough to actually give thought to joining them. Besides, he wanted to know what was Cruxis and what did they have to do with Desians.

"Let me get this straight, you guys are opponents of the Desians, you're fighting them to save people. Am I right," Lloyd asked.

"We wouldn't be fighting them otherwise," Botta said. Lloyd's eyes narrowed.

"I won't end up being your slave for countless reasons. I'm just siding with you, that's it. So you can count me in," Lloyd said grinning. Sometimes, Lloyd hated himself for being so gullible, but he knew he couldn't pass up a chance to rid the world of Desians and make it to where nobody suffered any longer. Lloyd knew that this would be where he'd finally made a difference. He had only one question...

**That was the end of this chapter, what did you all think of Lloyd's darker personality. (I personally did not think it was possible for Lloyd to have one since his view of life is so pure. But he is the antagonist of sorts for the new Tales game, or so we know). Well I hope you enjoyed.**


	5. Worldly Ordeal

**Hi, I'm really sorry about the long wait. I shouldn't have been so lazy To make up for it, I posted two chapters at once (although this one is really short)**

**Now that's out of the way, I'm glad many of you guys are enjoying my story seeing as I have three reviews each chapter. I will continue to write this because I like the compliments and criticism I receive from you guys.**

**Now has anyone ever played Devil May Cry? Any of them, 1 through 4. Just thought I would ask. If not, I recommend it. It is still by far, some of the best games I have ever played.**

**Now to get started. I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, **_**or **_**Final Fantasy VII (that's a hint by the way). Enjoy reading.**

"Where's Sheena, the girl that was traveling with me," Lloyd asked. He was happy to know that he was now in no moral danger but wouldn't be relaxed until he knew his comrade was safe. Botta's eyes lifted themselves towards the ceiling and instantly afterwards, Sheena landed in front of the two men gracefully on her feet. Sheena had her back turned to them before slowly turning around, with a light smile on her face.

"Hi," she said quietly. Lloyd sighed in relief and grinned sheepishly. He stood there before being curios about something. He then slowly put one of his hands on his swords and looked at Botta.

"Sheena will be accepted too, right," Lloyd asked. Sheena sighed. Lloyd was in for a long story.

"Lloyd, I have a confession to make. I tricked you," Sheena replied looking at the ground. Lloyd turned to her confused. He twitched.

"What do you mean," Lloyd asked confused. He hated being deceived and thought maybe this was all a ploy. But he still trusted Sheena. He looked at her and knew she could be trusted her, she had to be trustworthy. Sheena had a solemn look on her face.

"Lloyd, I'm not who you think I am. I someone else completely. I've been siding with these guys from the start," Sheena explained. Lloyd tensed up. "I had two tasks I needed to do. One was the assassination of this world's chosen," Lloyd instantly jumped back in surpise. He was caught completely off guard.

"What?! Why would you guys do something like that? She is the only hope for a lot of us against the Desians and she's innocent. What the hell is wrong with you guys," Lloyd demanded to know angrily. Sheena flinched.

"Allow me to explain. There exists an organization by the name of Cruxis. They are half-elves evolved into angels using Cruxis Crystals, the angels you worship aren't gods or anything of the sort. They control the Desians from behind as well as the Chosen lineage. The world you live in is all a ploy. There is another one parallel to it called Tethe'alla. There are two Churches of Martel in both worlds as well as two Chosen. There is a mana flow between the worlds that flow from the seals, one flourishes while the other declines. Desians wreak havoc on the declining world. They strengthen the Chosen to escalate her growth as an angel. The Journey of Regeneration switches the flow between the two worlds. The Desians move to the new world and the cycle reverses," Botta explained. Lloyd settled down a little.

"I'm from that world. I came here so I could save my people. Running into you was not something I had planned. After I met you... I couldn't do it, I couldn't kill the Chosen," Sheena said sadly. Lloyd shook his head.

"So this whole thing was a ploy to save that other world? What about this one," Lloyd asked. "You're just going to sacrifice all these people? Man that's so wrong!"

"Wrong? Your Chosen is going on a journey to destroy my world, you're doing the same thing," Sheena snapped back. Lloyd couldn't reply to that comment. He was confused. People in his world was suffering, yet if the Chosen saved them, more people would suffer.

"Dammit, then what the hell do we do," Lloyd demanded hitting his fist against the wall. A loud bang echoed across the room.

"I will explain that. Cruxis is searching for the appropriate vessel for Martel and the Chosen of this dying world has the closest signature mana to her. By killing the Chosen, we postpone Martel's revival and save the world," Botta explained.

"Who is Martel and why is she being revived. Is it a bad thing," Lloyd asked curiously.

"As for who Martel is isn't important, have you heard the legend of the Great Seed," Botta asked them. Lloyd sat there deep in thought before shaking his head. However, Sheena immediately perked up.

"You mean the Giant Tree, the source of infinite mana in fairytales. It was said after the Kharlan War, the tree withered away and the soul of Mithos the Hero took it's place as the Great Seed," Sheena replied marking the tree's history.

"The tree existed, though the soul of Mithos was a fairy tale. After the war, the tree withered away. The worlds that we talk of we originally one but was ripped asunder by one man in order to save them from the lack of mana. Martel rests inside the seed of the tree, if she is revived, the seed will be absorbed into her and the worlds will die. To revive Martel, the sacrifice of the Chosen, the seed, and eventually, the worlds are required," Botta explained. "The whole Journey of Regeneration is a lie."

"So if Colette completes the journey, we'll all just die anyway? Man that really sucks. So what do we do," Lloyd asked. "Isn't there someway to free the Great Seed and possibly save the worlds," Lloyd asked catching on. Botta sighed.

"We are still looking into that, so far we have found nothing of use," Botta said. Lloyd kicked the floor.

"Dammit, even if we killed Colette, we're only postponing the inevitable," Lloyd exclaimed.

"That and Sylvarant doesn't have much longer before it depletes its mana," Sheena said. Lloyd stood still in deep thought.

"Where is the Great Seed anyway," Lloyd asked.

"In the center of the two worlds, guarded by the Summon Spirits and the bonds between the worlds," Botta replied cooly. Lloyd looked confused. Sheena saw this and instantly explained.

"The Summon Spirits are the elemental ties for both worlds, there are four in Sylvarant, and four in Tethe'alla, that plus Maxwell and Origin," Sheena told him. "The mana flows from Sylvarant to Tethe'alla because the ones in Sylvarant are asleep while the ones in Tethe'alla are awake. When the Chosen's Journey is complete, the situation reverses." Lloyd had an idea.

"What would happen if the Summon Spirits were awake in both worlds," Lloyd asked curiously. Sheena shrugged. Botta's eyes widened. He stared at Lloyd and grinned.

"As much as I would like to stay and chat, I have other business to do, if you wish to travel to Tethe'alla, feel free to ask the staff at the Rheaird Hanger," Botta said as he immediately left the room leaving a confused Lloyd and Sheena.

"Was it something I said?" Lloyd looked at Sheena, she just shrugged. Lloyd grinned. "So you're from another world, that's so cool! Is there anything cool in your world or super powerful warriors," Lloyd demanded excitedly. He was bouncing up and down in excitement. Sheena sighed.

"You wanna see it for yourself," she asked him. Lloyd's eyes widened. He twitched as a stupid grin appeared on his face.

"I could see another world...COOL, LET'S GO NOW," Lloyd exclaimed. If he got any more excited, he would surely explode. Sheena twitched.

"_It's almost like he forgot I was going to kill his friend," _Sheena thought looking at him. "Are you sure, what about this world and Cruxis," she asked him. Lloyd calmed down and looked at her.

"I trust you, I think I know what you mean, you only wanted to protect the people you cared about. I understand. But, I refuse to believe it's okay to sacrifice others for the sake of a cause. It's wrong and I won't let Colette die or Sylvarant. I won't let Tethe'alla die either. I'll find a way for everyone to live. I won't quit until I do," Lloyd proclaimed with a hardened look on his face showing nothing but pure determination. "I find whoever is responsible for this, god or not and I'll him stop no matter what." Sheena looked at Lloyd with awe. She suddenly felt like she was looking at a different Lloyd, much more idealistic than the other happy-go-lucky one. She grinned. The world, no, both worlds needed people like that.

"Alright then, let's go to Tethe'alla, to save the worlds were everyone could live," Sheena said. Lloyd regained the excited look on his face but kept half of it contained. Even then, only an idiot couldn't tell he was excited. They walked out of the room, ready to start a new journey, in a new world.

**I decided to end this chapter here, since it's so small, I decided to post two chapters at once because you guys waited so long. I'm really sorry.**

**This chapter was really short and nothing but dialog because I needed for Lloyd to know the conditions of the two worlds and resolve a reason to go to Tethe'alla so early in the story. I promise the next chapter will be much better.**

**The crossovers begin next chapter. Before then, I wondered about a crossover with Naruto. I would like to know about your opinions about doing so. While I have planned the whole story, I've always been a "Make it up as I go" kind of writer. So please continue reading and enjoy.**


	6. Tethe'alla the Prospering

**Welcome to the next chapter. This one will be loads better than the last. That's a promise. **

**I've decided to finally bring the crossovers into play. While some of them may blend in with their separate storylines (ex. Cloud from FF VII being transported to this world after defeating Sephiroth) some of the original storylines have been changed to fit into this story.**

**I would like to know your opinions about a Naruto crossover. The Legend of Zelda seems pretty appealing as well so let me know about that as well. Now that's all out of the way, I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss or Final Fantasy VII.**

* * *

Lloyd and Sheena had arrived at the Rheiard Hangar. The few Renegades there acknowledge their presence before opening the gate and the Transfer System. Sheena jumped on a purple Rheiard while Lloyd stared at his confused. Lloyd jumped on it and looked at it, there was a pedal on his right and a much smaller one on his left. He put his hands on the handle bars and pushed the one on the left. Nothing happened. Lloyd raised an eye before slamming his foot on the right pedal.

Bad move on his part...

The Rheiard shot forward at an incredible speed causing Lloyd to scream. He cursed wondering why it wouldn't slow down. Sheena sighed and chased after him, they were in Sylvarant, here they had limited fuel. Lloyd constantly cursed at it before taking his foot off the pedal. It slowed down. Lloyd grinned.

Another bad move on his part...

The Rheiard slowed to a stop, then it started to fall. Instinctively, he slammed the left pedal. The Rheiard stopped falling and it floated in the air. Lloyd understood the mechanism. He should press the right pedal moderately while using the left to slow down, keeping him in the air. (I have know idea how Rheiards actually work, I just thought I would relate it to a bike that flies...sort of)

Sheena had caught up to Lloyd and gave him other instructions that Lloyd may have needed while leading him into the portal that would take them to Tethe'alla. When the went through the portal, Lloyd opened his mouth in amazement. They were flying above snowy mountains and soon the ocean. They flew past a giant bridge before flying over land. Lloyd grinned. Tethe'alla was so cool. He then saw a huge city.

"Whoa! That place is huge," Lloyd said stating the obvious. Sheena laughed. Lloyd never had seen a city so big before. Sheena knew that not many existed in Sylvarant. Lloyd and Sheena parked the Rheiards before jumping off. Sheena cursed.

"_Damn, I don't have a wing pack, oh well, just hope nobody takes them. Besides, everyone knows not to steal from the Renegades," _Sheena thought hopefully. She'd just stop by the Elemental Research Facility and pick a wing pack up. Lloyd looked around eagerly. He ran in through the gates with Sheena following closely behind. He saw a giant castle and a coliseum. He grinned obviously curious about both places. He ran straight to the coliseum only to be stopped by Sheena. "Chill, we'll check it out in a minute, I have a few things I need to do first," Sheena said. Lloyd sighed.

"Alright, I'll calm down," Lloyd said feeling frustrated. He was so excited. He couldn't even walk normally without glancing in every direction. Before they made it to the lab, Sheena turned towards him.

"Alright, listen to me, nobody here can know that you're from Sylvarant, nobody, so play along," Sheena said eyeing Lloyd. Lloyd raised an eye but nodded in reply. He guesses it would be weird if someone from another world suddenly showed up in his...like that didn't happen already.

Lloyd seemed to understand so Sheena left it at that. Before walking in, he saw this street that was torn apart and a few people with ragged clothing standing along the sides. They seemed to be very skinny, not to mention dirty too. Lloyd absent mindedly started to walk down the street. He saw nothing but sad faces. He eventually walked up to one of them.

"What happened," Lloyd asked one of them, it was an older looking woman.

"What do you mean? We're poor, we can't afford to live properly. You act as if you didn't know this," the woman replied eyeing Lloyd strangely. Lloyd was not pleased.

"Do the others try to help," Lloyd asked.

"Why would they care, those rich snobs," the woman replied darkly. Lloyd's eyes widened. He muttered a Dwarven Vow before handing her all his gald, which wasn't a lot but the woman treated it as if it was. "Thank you young man," she said bowing respectfully.

"Don't mention it, make sure everyone here can get a good meal," Lloyd said giving a small smile.

"That I will, that I will," the woman replied. Lloyd wondered if Sheena was looking for him so he walked back towards the research institute. He looked around making sure he was going the right way. He saw it and stood by the entrance, he didn't see Sheena around. He then saw a child wearing a black shirt and jeans walk up to him. He was a boy and he had spiky brown hair that was a little more tame than Lloyd's. He walked up to Lloyd and smiled.

"That was really nice of you to do that, not many of the people around here would do that for others. Are you from another world too? What's your name," the boy asked causing Lloyd's eyes to widen. He had to know more about the kid.

"I'm Lloyd. What's your name," Lloyd asked. He looked at the boy and was suddenly reminded of himself. The boy opened his mouth to reply when someone interrupted. A woman wearing black leather ran up to them. She had long black hair.

"Denzel! What have I told you about talking to strangers. I'm sorry, kids say the weirdest things sometimes," the woman said trying to fake a laugh. Lloyd wasn't convinced, though he did get the boy's name. Denzel looked at the woman before muttering an apology. Lloyd looked at them and realized that the woman must be his mother or something.

"Don't worry about it. It's not like I'm exactly grown either so I would know," Lloyd said giving her a grin. He got on his knee face to face with Denzel. "Besides, you're more right then you imagine," he whispered to Denzel. Denzel's eyes widened. So it was true. Lloyd grinned and waved them goodbye before they walked off.

Denzel looked at the woman urgently. The woman payed attention.

"Tifa, that guy said he's also from another world," Denzel said. Tifa looked at his curiously.

"Are you sure," she asked him. She thought it would be another childish answer.

"Yes! He said so himself," Denzel replied. Tifa looked at him curiously. She then turned towards Lloyd. He was dressed quite a bit differently from all the others, he didn't even look like the people from the country side. She'd would have to tell Cloud about him later. He did seem really nice though, plus Lloyd was a child too. Didn't look any older than fifteen or so. Then again, neither did Yuffie...

"Hmm, well I wouldn't worry about it, we just need to find a way home. Now let's find Cloud and Marlene," Tifa said.

"Okay," Denzel replied quietly. Tifa also took notice of Lloyd's swords. Lloyd wasn't a pushover, that was for sure. Maybe he would help them get home. Maybe not. Only time could tell.

* * *

Lloyd continued to stand next to the entrance. After a few minutes, Sheena walked out of the lab. She eyed Lloyd.

"Where were you at," she asked curiously.

"Nowhere, just looking around. So how's it going," Lloyd asked. He didn't tell Sheena about Denzel and the woman, he figured he'd run into them again. Maybe they would help him with Cruxis. Sheena sighed while giving off a small grin.

"We could look around now," Sheena said. Lloyd got excited again and ran to the coliseum with Sheena chasing behind him. He saw a tournament board with a few spaces empty and wanted to enter. He looked at Sheena pleadingly. Sheena sighed. "Go ahead." Lloyd grinned and gave her a quick hug before signing up. Sheena twitched. _"This isn't going to end well."_

Lloyd grinned as he signed the forms and he walked into the waiting room. He saw a few people stretching but none of them looked interesting. In fact, some of them looked like they shouldn't even be here, and that was saying something, Lloyd was a child. He was starting to regret coming. He knew that there was other rooms with participants so he figured that this one didn't have as strong opponents because they were singled out based on what their strength looked like. Instantly Lloyd became pissed. They underestimated him and thought him weak.

"_Those bastards, I knew that lady was overly cheerful. I'll show them," _Lloyd thought fiercely. He waited for an hour before his name was called. He walked outside into the arena. Their were other participants facing monster of all sorts. Many of them were doing horribly.

"Alright kid, we're going to test you, see if you can live long enough without crying, we don't want weaklings in the tournament," a knight in rusted gray armor said. Lloyd twitched when they opened the gate. "We'll set you against a few monsters and see if you're capable of any fighting. Be prepared." The gate fully opened and a pink bunny rabbit hopped out. Lloyd twitched.

"What the hell? Are you guys kidding me," Lloyd asked incredulously. The bunny gave him a cute look before it's eyes turned a demonic red and it's fur became ragged. It quadrupled in size, equaling the size of Genis before growling menacingly at Lloyd. Lloyd unsheathed his swords. No point in underestimating the Giant Easter Bunny.

Lloyd charged at the bunny and quickly dodged a snap from it's jaws. "Sonic Thrust!" He thrust his left sword into the bunny's stomach before leaping backward. "Demon Fang!" He launched a shockwave at the bleeding bunny before jumping into the air. Lloyd landed behind the bunny. "Sonic Thrust!" He stabbed the bunny in the back of it's head. It fell over dead seconds later. Lloyd made an impression there, he was not to be underestimated.

"So, the kid knows artes. Maybe we should've slipped him into a different category," one of the guards said eyeing Lloyd.

"Nah, lets see if he could defeat a bear, if he wins, I'll give him some credit.," another replied opening another gate. A bear came out and launched itself at Lloyd. Lloyd quickly jumped backwards.

"_Other than Sonic Thrust, my attacks would only piss it off. I need to attack with more force." _Lloyd charged twice as much mana into his arms and charged at the bear. He swung his swords in a pattern while leaving no openings. He then charged as much mana as he could into the sword on his left before slicing it down the middle. Right in half. Lloyd twitched at the sight of the bear's insides but ignored it. The guards looked at Lloyd awestruck.

"Not even I'm strong enough to do that," one of the guards exclaimed. The others grinned.

"He's using his mana efficiently, he seems to have a lot to be able to do that, for a human anyway," another stated. He had an inch of elven blood or two in him so he could sense mana to an extent.

"That's some raw power, are you sure he's not a half-elf, while he doesn't have the build, he sure had the power of one," one of the guards asked him.

"Nope, he's a human alright, I won't deny that he may have a inch or two of elven blood but he's human."

Lloyd grinned. He got the recognition he was looking for. He looked around and saw some of the other competitors even stopped fighting their monsters to watch him. It seems like the monsters stopped as well. Then Lloyd noticed that they had collars on that would electrocute them whenever the guards wished it. They were probably ordered to leave the distracted competition alone. A guard walked up to Lloyd.

"It seems that you are the only one among this group that qualifies for the tournament, congratulations, Please step into the stands over there where the other successful competitors wait," he instructed. Lloyd grinned and walked up to the stands were there were other people. Unlike the others, these guys looked really strong. He then saw the woman that was with Denzel earlier. The woman noticed him and gave a light smile.

"I didn't think I'd run into you again, especially like this. Denzel told me how nice you were to those people, unfortunately, our money isn't worth much here. I'm Tifa by the way," Tifa introduced herself. Lloyd's grin became wider.

"I'm Lloyd," Lloyd replied. Lloyd felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see a blonde man with dark clothing looking at him with blue eyes. He had no expression on his face besides what seemed to be a light depression. Lloyd noticed he had a lion's crest on his left side. Lloyd twitched when he saw the huge sword on the man's back. It was bigger than him.

"Come with me," he ordered. Lloyd didn't know why, but he didn't feel like this person was going to hurt him, he liked this person. They walked further away from the group until they came to a sudden stop. "Who are you," the man asked. "You're not from here."

"I'm Lloyd, I'm guessing you know Tifa and Denzel, right," Lloyd said eyeing the man.

"That's not your concern, where are you from," the man demanded quietly. Lloyd shook his head.

"That's none of _your_ concern. You're from another world, so is Denzel and Tifa," Lloyd said. The man glared at Lloyd. "Am I right?" The man walked away. Lloyd raised an eye. He never liked quiet people but something about the man changed his mind.

"You are too," the man said in the distance. Lloyd twitched. So he knew. Lloyd wondered what his name was. "Cloud, that's my name," the man said causing Lloyd to jump back in surprise.

"_How did he know I was wondering?" _Lloyd sighed. He went back into the group and stood a little further away from them. Cloud did the same and they stood next to each other. Lloyd saw Sheena and grinned. He ran up to her. "What are you doing here," Lloyd asked.

"I was bored so I joined too, people here look pretty weak," she replied. Lloyd shook his head.

"They underestimated you too, huh," Lloyd stated as he saw that there were eight of them standing there. This tournament sounded like it was about to get fun. A man in a black suit and slacks walked out into the arena.

* * *

"Ladies and gentleman! We have selected our candidates for our tournament, and many of them look promising," he stated with enthusiasm. He appeared to be an announcer. The stands around them suddenly began to fill. "Now will Cloud Strife and Sync the Tempest please step down. The audience watched as a teenage boy with green spiked hair and a golden mask came down. He was wearing a weird battle cloak and seemed to have no weapon. This was Sync. The mask did not cover the lower half of his face so everyone could see him smirking. Cloud was standing on the other side of the arena staring at his opponent. He grabbed his Buster Sword and stood in his fighting stance. The crowd was amazed he could even pick it up let alone use it. Even with his exesphere, Lloyd knew he'd have a hard time swinging that thing around.

"You look pretty strong, too bad you won't get past me," Sync taunted cocky. Cloud just narrowed his eyes. The signal was given and Sync launched himself at Cloud. Cloud merely swung his sword barely missing Sync. He could swing it really fast, almost like a twig. _"D-damn, this guy could swing it that fast, I barely dodged it," _Sync thought barely avoiding each of Cloud's swings. Sync knew that he was fast but Cloud even with the heavy sword rivaled his speed. Cloud jumped into the air and flipped before bringing his sword down. Sync moved out of the way and saw an opening. He lunged at Cloud and attempted to punch him. Cloud quickly spun while swinging his sword, the flat side of it knocking Sync over the head. Sync quickly lost consciousness. Cloud lowered the swords back into the straps on his back and walked away before he was even announced as the winner. Lloyd clapped along with many others. He was excited and he couldn't wait for his turn.

* * *

"Now the first match has come to it's quick conclusion, it is time for the second match! Tifa Lockhart versus Eldric! Contestants please come down." Tifa walked down to he spot in the arena. The other contestant was an a man who looked to be in his thirties, he had short reddish brown hair with a few freckles and dark green eyes. He had a perverted grin on his face. Tifa instantly hated this man. He had a two handed broadsword that was strapped to his back, much like Cloud's except significantly smaller in size.

"Don't worry miss, I'll go easy on ya," Eldric said. Tifa could tell he was undressing her with his eyes. This man was begging to die. The signal barely went of before Tifa was beating the hell out of him. The crowd twitched when snapping bones were heard.

"That's what he gets for being a pervert," Sheena said sourly, she knew all to well from experience. A certain Chosen needed to get a beating like that. Lloyd knew that he should always stay the innocent boy he was when he was around Sheena from that point on. Women were scary to him. Then by a look of sudden mood change, Tifa smiled sweetly at Eldric before delivering a punch to his face. Lloyd changed his thought. Women were _terrifying _to him. Lloyd ignored this thought and wondered when it would be his turn. Cloud and Tifa were strong, so he wanted to face both of them, he also wanted to see Sheena fight too.

"Another short match, if you could even call that one! Tifa wins," the announcer exclaimed. Cheers from all the women were shouted at her. The pervert should've known his place.

"_If a pervert ever joins our group, may the goddess rest his soul," _Lloyd thought.

* * *

Somewhere, Zelos Wilder sneezed. "Huh, one of my hunnies must be talking about me, hehehe," Zelos laughed.

* * *

"Usually, we would conclude the matches for today but since they were so short, lets have at least one more!" The crowd cheered in response to this. Lloyd was sweating in anticipation, if he or Sheena wasn't called, they would have to face each other in the first round.

"Would the following contestants please step down..." Lloyd twitched as the announcer paused. It was almost like he was trying to leave him in suspense. It was pissing him off. He didn't want to face Sheena in the first round. "Would Shadow and Lloyd please step down. Lloyd sighed in relief.

"Shadow huh, sounds really creative," Sheena said sarcastically. "Come on Lloyd, show this guy up!" Sheena cheered him on.

"Haha, yeah! This guy won't know what hit him," Lloyd stated. He eagerly jumped into the arena instead of walking to see a man in a black cloak hiding all his body. He wore a hood that covered his face. Lloyd raised an eye. "You sure look like you're trying to hide something," Lloyd commented.

"I hide nothing, I just prefer the darkness over the light. My name in this tournament has a reason behind it. I suggest you look carefully," Shadow replied. Lloyd grinned. The signal went off and Lloyd charged at his opponent. He swung his fist only to go right through Shadow.

"What the hell," Lloyd exclaimed. The person he punched through disappeared. He reappeared a few yards in front of Lloyd. However, Lloyd saw three of Shadow.

"Come now, find the real me," Shadow said calmly. Lloyd stood still and stared at them. He couldn't tell the difference between them. The Shadows revealed their mouths and grinned evilly. "Fine then if you won't move, then I will," Shadow said as all three charged at Lloyd. Lloyd brought his arms to defend himself. The Shadow trio was about to strike with a sword that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Guardian!" A green force field appeared around Lloyd as he blocked Shadow's attack, he instantly knew the real one and counter attacked. "Impact!" Lloyd smacked Shadow's face before he was sent flying. Lloyd knew which one was real when they attacked him because he could feel the blow from the real one. He grinned. Shadow stood up on his feet and wiped his face. Lloyd saw a few drops of blood on the ground. While killing was legal in the tournament, he did not wish to do so. "You should quit, you'll die if you don't," Lloyd warned him. Shadow merely replied with a laugh. The laugh was dark, somewhat maniacal. Lloyd twitched.

"You're afraid of killing? Don't worry about me child, the fight is only starting. Unlike you...I'm not afraid of killing...In fact...I ENJOY IT," Shadow exclaimed. His hood flew off revealing an elf with demonic red eyes. He had silver hair that fell down his back to his thighs. "I revel in killing, a human like you wouldn't understand," Shadow said. Lloyd unsheathed his swords and charged at Shadow. Lloyd tried to kick him up into the air but Shadow made more copies of himself. "Just because you hit me before, doesn't mean you can tell which one is real. You didn't learn the difference yet! Kneel before me human if you wish to live," Shadow proclaimed maniacally laughing.

"He's really full of himself. Come on Lloyd! This guy is just a freak, this isn't something you can't handle," Sheena cheered him on. Lloyd looked at the ground unconciously and twitched. All the replicas of Shadow had no shadows at all! Lloyd finally understood the difference. The real Shadow had a shadow. He saw a shadow and stared at the real Shadow. He put sheathed his swords and summoned mana into his arms and legs.

"You like killing people, I'll show you that I can win even without killing you, there's no meaning in killing. It only spawns hatred and revenge. I'll...I'll stop you, nobody should have to die for another," Lloyd said emotionlessly. He ran towards his opponent at an incredible speed. Shadow had no time to react as Lloyd tackled him. When they landed on the ground, Lloyd punched him once. Shadow lost consciousness soon afterwards and Lloyd sighed. "You guys should lock him away from others, he isn't safe." The guards nodded to Lloyd and picked the man up. Lloyd shook his head. He didn't like Tethe'alla as much as he thought he would. People here were weird. At least all the people weren't against each other in Sylvarant, the Desians took that away.

"Folks, the next match will be prolonged until tomorrow so thank you and have a wonderful day!" The crowd gave one last cheer.

* * *

**That's the end, that guy Lloyd fought had no significance to the story. Just a round for the tournament. I will admit the cloning idea came from Naruto though. Well, I'll catch you guys later, I hope you enjoyed!**


	7. The Battle Between Friends

**Hi and welcome to the next chapter. The idea for crossovers is brimming and I decided to do three more. Too many would indeed suck a little. So far there is just Final Fantasy VII and Tales of the Abyss.**

**While Lloyd will fight Cloud, remember this, Cloud fought Sephiroth countless times and saved his world. Lloyd is just a child and hadn't even started his journey. It won't be completely one-sided, but it won't be as impressive as it would be if Lloyd had already defeated Mithos.**

**If you're wondering why Lloyd and Sheena can use the Rheiards without running out of fuel, it's because the seals in Sylvarant haven't been released yet.**

**Without further ado, I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, or Final Fantasy VII.**

Lloyd sat in one of the two rooms he and Sheena were staying in for the week. He stared at the ceiling thinking about the people of Tethe'alla. While there were some people, a lot of them were pretty selfish, some obsessed with evil habits. He pictured that it would be perfect since it was the prospering world. He wondered if Sylvarant would be like this if it was saved from the Desians. He shook his head. He didn't want to think about it. Life was crappy enough as it was in Sylvarant. He had more to focus on.

He barely beat that psycho that was obsessed with killing. He learned that there was a gap in his skills that he needed to fill. He wanted to fight Cloud but as of the moment, he wouldn't even be a nuisance. He decided to look for a training manual on swords before Sheena's match. He didn't want to seen as weak. It wouldn't look to good. He searched the weapons shop to find a few on basic swords but none on twin swords. He figured that since he invented his own style, that he would need to make the basics blend in with his abilities. So he grabbed a few and intensely studied, much to his disappointment, they didn't show any examples, only explanations. Some with words he didn't understand

Sheena went back to her home village to make a report. She said she'd back before the tournament would start that day. Lloyd saw an urgent need to find somewhere to practice, so he left town into an open field and trained. He tried the methods described in the books and found most of them to be successful, picking up quite a few artes. Four to be exact. His only complaint was that he had to read to find them out and he hated reading. He read only when it was necessary. Even then it was too troublesome. He sighed and decided to try the artes without his weapons. He sighed. That meant more reading. After two hours of studying and training, he successfully learned them all. He was irritated though. In the manuals he just bought, there were quite a few powerful ones he wanted to use but couldn't due to his lack of mana. With the exesphere, he would have enough, but then he wouldn't increase his overall mana and he'd become more dependant on the power of the exesphere than he already was.

Sheena arrived by the city and saw Lloyd and raised an eye. She walked up to Lloyd while he was resting and she grinned.

"You've been training lately," Sheena asked causing Lloyd to jump in surprised. Lloyd sighed in relief when he saw Sheena.

"Back already? I didn't think you'd be back until later when the tournament started up again," Lloyd remarked. Sheena mocked a sad face.

"What? You're not happy to see me," Sheena asked. He face changed into one of mock annoyance. "I could just leave you know."

"No! That would suck," Lloyd hastily replied causing Sheena to laugh. Lloyd raised an eye. "What's so funny," he asked.

"You're an idiot, you know that," Sheena told him playfully. Lloyd's eyes narrowed. "But you're a good idiot so I think I'll keep you around," Sheena said causing Lloyd to sigh.

"Whatever," Lloyd said uncharacteristically brooding to himself. Sheena laughed. Lloyd grinned. "So, since it won't be awhile till your match, what do you want to do," Lloyd asked curiously. Sheena shrugged.

"We could just show up there anyway and wait, maybe meet a few people that'll help you with your fighting. Frankly it needs some work," Sheena replied. Lloyd's grin became even wider. He would surprise Sheena when they fought.

"Okay, since my fighting sucks so bad, I'll work on it," Lloyd answered with a bored tone. Sheena was in for it if she underestimated him. This made Sheena suspicious, Lloyd was just training and it had been only a few hours since she was gone, what could Lloyd learn in a few hours anyway? Lloyd seemed pretty confident in his abilities. They headed to the coliseum and looked around, there was just people fighting monsters for money, which made Lloyd think, if he didn't want Sheena to be suspicious, he should replace the money he spent on the manual. He signed up and started fighting monsters. He made sure not to use any of his new artes and took out monsters left and right. What he forgot was that he was fighting more precisely, taking out the monsters with skill, rather than slicing them open spontaneously like he usually did. Sheena took note of this.

"_He's improved in only a few hours, what was he doing during that training," _Sheena thought as she watched Lloyd duck underneath a blow from a bear. He had a little trouble yesterday fighting one but now he was ripping through it. It seems experience was starting to kick in for him despite that he was only fourteen. _"That makes me wonder how strong he'll be in a few years, he's still showing openings but only the skilled would be able to exploit them." _

Everyone in the arena was starting to panic, the monsters were increasing in number and power. Most of them were fleeing. Lloyd grinned. He ran right into the middle of the monsters and destroyed them one by one. A pack of wolves lunged at him. Lloyd rolled to the side and hacked through them effortlessly. He lost count of the monsters he had taken out. By then there were only four people in the arena each taking out their fair share of monsters. Lloyd was the only one who took out more than what was necessary. He grinned when the monsters stopped appearing. A lady walked up to the people in the arena congratulating them while paying them. She walked up to Lloyd and sighed.

"If you killed anymore, we'd be out of business. Take your money," she said causing Lloyd to twitch. She had a lot of gald on her, A LOT! Lloyd counted at least twenty-thousand. This was ten times as much as the training manuals. He heard some applause and turned to see Sheena clapping ever so lightly.

"Not bad, when did you get so good? I could of swore yesterday you'd be one of the guys fleeing for their lives," Sheena commented. Lloyd sighed.

"Come on, I'm not that bad, you just didn't see my obvious talent," Lloyd replied flexing his arm. Sheena shook her head, her match would start soon and Lloyd did an impressive job destroying the monsters. She wanted to see what else Lloyd could do. She still saw openings Lloyd needed to work on. She did notice however that the mistakes Lloyd made were almost never made twice. Lloyd was simply a hands on learner, he needed to do something before learning it. Lloyd grinned. Sheena was staring at him without noticing. "Sheena, hello, anybody there," Lloyd asked waving his hand in front of Sheena's face. She furiously shook her head.

"Sorry, I'm just spacing out right now. So what now," Sheena asked when she noticed the stands start to fill. Her match was coming. _"If I'm lucky," _she thought staring at Lloyd_, "then I might have two matches today." _Lloyd walked off into the stands where the fighters stood and waved at Sheena. _"After all, I want to know if Lloyd is strong enough to do what he says he will, if he really wants to save Sylvarant and Tethe'alla," _she thought as her opponent stood before her. It was a Papal Knight, in green armor. Sheena sighed. This would be pathetic. Ignoring the announcer, she pulled out a kunai and twirled it in her fingers. She didn't bother listening, there was no need. The signal went off and the Papal Knight charged at her with a giant axe. Sheena disappeared in smoke before appearing behind the knight. She slapped a seal on the knight's back. Soon after, the knight fell unconscious. Sheena sighed, that was no real fight. There was no cheering either. Apparently, only Lloyd took awhile in his first match. Everyone else breezed through their matches like nothing.

* * *

Cloud and Tifa saw a adversary in Sheena, but saw no real talent with Lloyd. So much for coming from another world. Tifa looked at Cloud and sighed. She knew that she didn't stand a chance in hell. When they walked down to the arena, Tifa rose her arm.

"I forfeit, he'll demolish me," Tifa said before walking back into the stands. Cloud shook his head. That left him with Sheena, or possibly Lloyd. He knew better not to underestimate people, he wasn't stupid. Lloyd grinned. It was his turn, he'd face Sheena. He stared at her as he walked down the stands. He'd be careful when she disappeared like she did with the knight. He stood in the arena across from Sheena and let down his grin a little. Sheena looked at him indifferently.

"Don't think I'll take it easy, just because you're my friend," Sheena said surprising Lloyd. That was the first time Sheena admitted they were friends. Lloyd gave a small smile.

"Same goes to you," he replied. He originally decided against drawing his weapons. He knew that there was a magic circle placed on the arena to prevent great injuries, but he didn't like the idea of attacking Sheena with swords. But now, he knew he couldn't hold back. He withdrew his swords.

"Wow, not even friendship will stop these guys. Let the match begin," the announcer exclaimed and the signal went off. Sheena disappeared again in smoke. Lloyd closed his eyes before rolling to his right side, avoiding a seal placed on him. Sheena grinned. She'd have to fight for real. She pulled out two cards with seals on them and faced Lloyd. They charged at each other. Lloyd sidestepped many attacks thrown by Sheena. She wasn't leaving any openings. He jumped back only to find Sheena in front of him. She was too fast for him. Lloyd grinned. He'd try the artes he learned earlier. He even invented one for speedy opponents like Sheena. He charged mana through his whole body then let it all out at once.

"Demonic Rush!" The mana flowed through all his body. He then reacted to Sheena's speed with his own. He went three times as fast and hit Sheena with the flat end of his weapon. "Sword Rain!" Lloyd thrust his swords five times at Sheena with supersonic speed before pulling back. "Tiger Blade!" He slashed Sheena up and back down. He jumped backwards. Sheena did the same, though she was fazed by Lloyd's speed, she wasn't done.

"You surprised me, here I thought you'd be easy," Sheena said wiping blood from her mouth. She knew she had to get back on the offensive if she wanted to win. Lloyd grinned as Sheena charged at him, it was time to show Sheena the gap between their skills that Lloyd had filled.

"Demon Fang!" He launched a shockwave at Sheena. Sheena jumped over it. Lloyd the charged mana to his feet and swords. "Tempest!" He jumped into the air and did multiple flips into the air extending his arms which held his swords. Sheena did not expect this and was hit multiple times.

_"Time to finish this," _Lloyd exclaimed in his mind. He would unveil his most powerful arte yet, he needed to hit her with it because he would be exhausted of mana and unable to fight. They landed on the ground and Lloyd went for the final blow. "Beast!" A blue lion head appeared in front of Lloyd as he slammed his swords into Sheena with brute force. Sheena was launched into the wall. Lloyd instantly regretted using Beast and ran after her. Sheena caught herself an used the last of her mana to stick to the wall without getting hurt. She sighed in relief before letting go. Lloyd caught her before she landed on the ground. Lloyd also sighed in relief. She wasn't seriously hurt.

"Not bad Lloyd. Looks like I have work to do," Sheena said weakly. Lloyd frowned.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't of used that," Lloyd replied sadly. Sheena shook her head.

"Nonsense, we promised we wouldn't hold back, I didn't think before acting, that's all. Next time, I'll be able to take care of myself," Sheena told him. She got out of his arms and brushed himself off. "Don't worry about me, you still have that guy to deal with," She said mentioning Cloud. Lloyd nodded. He looked at Cloud who was already staring at the pair. He nodded to Lloyd. Lloyd nodded back. His next match would be his hardest yet. He still doubted his ability to win.

"Lloyd wins in the conclusion of that match, would everyone please come tomorrow to see the conclusion of this tournament." Lloyd didn't listen to what the announcer had to say after that. He just wanted to rest. He had nearly no mana left and just wanted to sleep. Sheena wanted to do the same so they left to go to the inn and plopped into their beds falling asleep fast.

* * *

Lloyd awoke the morning. He sat up and stretched his arms. And looked around. He felt the anticipation building up in his stomach. He thought about Cloud. The power he exuded almost scared him. The only reason that Lloyd wanted to fight him was because he wanted to see where he stood in all of this. He got out of bed and dressed into his red clothes. He opened the door and walked out of the inn. He needed some time to think.

"_Do I even stand a chance?" _He looked at the sky and saw that the sun was barely rising, he had gotten up really early, he couldn't sleep anymore. His match was bothering him. He sighed and walked around the seemingly empty city. He walked by the coliseum and gave it a long look. _"Could I even hope to defeat him?" _He imagined fighting Cloud using a different method every time and still lose. He sighed. Thinking wasn't helping very much. He walked by the entrance to the inn and saw Sheena. She waved at him.

"Hey, I didn't think you'd be up this early. It's not like you," Sheena stated looking at Lloyd. He seemed out of it.

Lloyd opened his mouth to say something, then closed it muttering a "Never mind." Now Sheena knew something was up.

"What's wrong," she asked him concerned. Lloyd took a deep breath.

"It's just, Cloud seems really strong," Lloyd said. Sheena grinned.

"And," she said motioning for Lloyd to go on.

"I don't think I'll even stand a chance. I'm kind of scared...Pretty stupid, huh," Lloyd said forcing a smile. Sheena shook her head.

"To be honest, I didn't think you'd stand a chance either," Sheena said causing Lloyd to frown and look at his feet. "But..." Lloyd looked up. "When I fought you yesterday, you seemed more relaxed and determined, you really proved me wrong about you. You're strong too, maybe stronger than Cloud. Nobody knows that yet. All you have to do is give it your all and don't leave with any regrets," Sheena said giving Lloyd a genuine smile. "Besides, since when was Lloyd a quitter," she added. Lloyd grinned.

"You're right, I can't believe I'd get so worked up. I must of seemed really stupid," Lloyd said. "Well, I don't know how I'm going to beat him, but I do know that I'll kick his ass, and if that doesn't happen, then I'll sure make him work for that victory," Lloyd exclaimed pumping his fist into the air.

Unbeknownst to them, Cloud was watching and gave a light smile. He'd have to hold Lloyd to that. He walked off and headed to the coliseum. He needed to do some light exercise before taking on Lloyd. It seemed like the match wouldn't so bad after all.

* * *

**That's the end. I figured the match should have it's own chapter. Now remember, there will only be three more crossovers. I've decided two of them but the last is still bothering me. So give me all the thoughts you can for that last one, I'll decide in three chapters. Most of the crossovers will only have one or two characters for each one. I wouldn't throw in all the Naruto characters if I did one with Naruto, that would be way too many. Hence that is why only Cloud and Tifa are in from Final Fantasy VII. (Though there may be another) Now I hope you enjoyed and by all means, continue reading.**

* * *


	8. The Determined and the Dark

**Hi and welcome to the most epic battle so far. Lloyd will take on Cloud. I think I've decided my last crossover and see the layout of the story. So I have everything planned. **

**Once again, if you haven't played Devil May Cry, 1 through 4, I sincerely recommend playing them. If you have a PS2 or PS3, you can get all of them. If you have an X-Box 360, then you could get Devil May Cry 4. If not, then review me and I'll explain the storyline. It's not too important right now, but I figured you guys would want to understand where the characters come from. So far I think that Devil May Cry will be the last crossover unless you guys vote for another game or anime.**

**Without further ado, I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy Seven, Naruto, or Devil May Cry.**

Cloud sighed. He went out on a walk to hopefully vent some of his anger he was feeling. He felt hopeless, it had been a month since he appeared in this world with Tifa and the children. He was trying everything in his power to find a way home without losing it. His money was useless, there was no leads, and the people here were generally annoying. He joined this tournament so he could make gald to feed Tifa and the children while he looked for a way home. He looked at the sky, the sun was rising. He sighed, he didn't have time to walk around aimlessly, he needed to get his family home. He heard some voices.

"_Who would be up this early," _Cloud wondered looking around. He saw a discouraged Lloyd and a confident Sheena. Cloud shook his head. _"He's too scared, am I really that intimidating?"_

"It's just, Cloud seems really strong," Lloyd said. Sheena grinned. Cloud looked on with curiosity.

"And," she said motioning for Lloyd to go on.

"I don't think I'll even stand a chance. I'm kind of scared...Pretty stupid, huh," Lloyd said forcing a smile. Sheena shook her head. Cloud got comfortable, he wanted to hear the rest of this conversation.

"To be honest, I didn't think you'd stand a chance either," Sheena said causing Lloyd to frown and look at his feet.

"_She seems like a really great friend," _Cloud thought sarcastically. He then realized that thought was out of character and shook his head furiously.

"But..." Lloyd looked up. "When I fought you yesterday, you seemed more relaxed and determined, you really proved me wrong about you. You're strong too, maybe stronger than Cloud. Nobody knows that yet. All you have to do is give it your all and don't leave with any regrets," Sheena said giving Lloyd a genuine smile. "Besides, since when was Lloyd a quitter," she added. Lloyd grinned. Cloud watched this and was surprised how Lloyd's mind changed with a few words. They had a pretty close friendship. He found himself envying them.

"You're right, I can't believe I'd get so worked up. I must of seemed really stupid," Lloyd said. "Well, I don't know how I'm going to beat him, but I do know that I'll kick his ass, and if that doesn't happen, then I'll sure make him work for that victory," Lloyd exclaimed pumping his fist into the air.

Cloud smirked. He'd hold Lloyd to that promise. Cloud turned around and walked away, preparing his mind for a good fight.

* * *

Lloyd and Cloud stood across from each other in the arena. Lloyd was extremely nervous and his body was shaking with excitement. He was ready as he ever would be. Brown eyes gazed into blue. Cloud could see the determination pouring out of Lloyd.

"You seem pumped," Cloud commented. Lloyd smirked.

"You bet I am. I waited a while for this," Lloyd replied. He unsheathed his swords and pointed one of them expectantly at Cloud. "Don't hold back," Lloyd exclaimed.

"I won't," Cloud replied now holding his Buster Sword and readying his stance. No more words were exchanged between them. There was no need. There was complete silence, not even the annoying referee said anything. The only sound was the wind blowing. It felt like hours for Lloyd, impatiently waiting for the signal to go off. He was about to start the match anyway. Just as he made up his mind to go, the signal went off, he nearly started before it went off.

Lloyd charged at Cloud drawing his right arm back. "Sonic Thrust!" Cloud took a step backwards avoiding the tip of Lloyd's sword and countered with his own. Lloyd jumped to the side and charged mana into his blade. "Demon Fang!" Cloud jumped over it. Lloyd grinned. "Tempest!" He somersaulted towards his opponent. Cloud rose his sword and blocked Lloyd's blade, effectively stopping his attack in midair. Lloyd quickly jumped off Cloud higher into the air. Cloud landed on the ground and looked into the air where Lloyd was falling towards him. Lloyd rose his blades above and tried to bring them down on Cloud when he landed. Cloud split his Buster Sword into two separate swords and defended against Lloyd's attack. Lloyd grimaced. He did not know Cloud could do that with his weapon. This changed things a bit. Cloud swung one of his blades, launching Lloyd across the arena. Lloyd landed on his feet to see Cloud only feet away from him. His eyes narrowed. _"So that's how it is." _Lloyd decided to step it up a bit.

"Demonic Rush!" Mana flowed throughout his body. His speed was once again tripled. He let out a loud yell before swinging his sword. Cloud met it with his own. Both of them leaping back, they started fighting at such a speed where almost nobody could see them. Only a few could see how they were fighting. Lloyd and Cloud traded blows for what seemed like an eternity. Finally Lloyd jumped back. He was about halfway out of mana. He silently cursed in his mind. Cloud seemed to be just getting started. He charged a the vast majority of his mana into his swords. He wanted to try something. "Demon Fang Overlimit!" Lloyd launched a large shockwave of energy at Cloud. Cloud didn't have time to dodge. He quickly reunited his Buster Sword and launched a crescent moon shaped wave of energy back at Lloyd. The attacks collided with each other causing a huge explosion. Everyone covered their eyes as dust filled the entire coliseum.

"_What a battle! I've never seen something so amazing," _many people of the audience thought. Dust filled the arena, noone could see anything now. Lloyd stared at where Cloud should be in the midst of the dust. When the wind finally picked it all up, he could see Cloud staring right back at him. Lloyd grimaced, that was the last of his mana, he was done. He didn't even land one blow, or so much as faze his opponent. Lloyd shook his head.

"_No! This is far from over," _he exclaimed in his mind. The exesphere in his hand pulsated. Lloyd stared at it before ginning darkly. _"I'll show him...Yes. He'll be on his knees before I'm finished with him," _Lloyd thought evilly as white aura surrounded his body. He looked at Cloud. "You know, this is the first time I've looked forward to fighting someone. So...try not to make things too easy," Lloyd said causing Cloud to raise an eye. Lloyd's personality changed. He could also see white energy flowing out of Lloyd. He felt raw power emanating from his opponent. He didn't like the dark look on Lloyd's face. It seemed unnatural. He almost felt like he was looking at somebody else. He wasn't the only one with that thought. Sheena stared at Lloyd.

"_Lloyd...What is that thing doing to you. Who are you," _she thought sadly watching Lloyd change again. Lloyd crouched down into a lunging position.

"Ready Cloud," Lloyd asked sounding like somebody else Cloud knew. Cloud shook the thought from his head, Lloyd wasn't _**him.**_

Lloyd jumped to his feet and sped towards Cloud at speeds which could only be called insane. Cloud jumped into the air only to see Lloyd waiting for him up there. "What took you so long," Lloyd asked before slamming his blade into Cloud. Cloud landed on his feet and immediately started avoiding blows sent by Lloyd. Cloud swung his sword, sure he'd hit Lloyd only to find nobody there. "What are you swinging at," Lloyd asked from right behind him. Cloud jumped into the air less then a millisecond later. He spun around to see Lloyd following closely behind.

It was Cloud's turn to grimace. Lloyd reached Cloud and was about to swing one his swords when Cloud grabbed his shirt and chucked Lloyd extremely high into the air. Lloyd looked at Cloud confused. _"What is he planning," _Lloyd wondered as he continued to rise far above the coliseum. Cloud landed on the ground for a split second and launched himself after Lloyd at a high speed. Lloyd grinned when he started to fall and see Cloud heading towards him, ready to swing his sword. _"So, he plans on out-matching me in power. I'll show him how strong I've become," _Lloyd thought fiercely. They were getting closer when Cloud swung his sword too early. Lloyd was about to laugh, then he saw it split into seven different swords and surround him, he even stopped falling and found himself unable to move. _"What the hell!?" _A golden light surrounded Cloud as he sped towards Lloyd. Omni Slash was about to take place. Cloud thrust through Lloyd towards another sword and he grabbed it before repeating the process. He continued to do this until he used all seven swords. He landed on the ground, six of them landing into the ground perfectly while he caught one his right hand. Lloyd landed in front of him. Cloud was about to turn around and leave, clearly having been the winner when he was interrupted.

"W-wait," Lloyd weakly called after him, he barely stood on his feet and picked up his weapons. It seemed like the old Lloyd's personality was back in control. While Sheena was worried for Lloyd's health, she was relieved. Cloud shook his head. Lloyd knew his body hadn't adapted to that kind of power and was in horrid pain but he wanted to fight until he dropped. "I'm not done yet, this...is far from over," Lloyd proclaimed weakly. He felt like he'd fall over any second. After witnessing Cloud's power, he wanted to fight him even more. Even if he nearly died, he would continue to fight. He didn't want it to end yet. Cloud turned his head towards Lloyd.

"You're too injured," Cloud said. Lloyd shook his head furiously.

"No, I can keep going, don't worry about me," Lloyd said defiantly. Cloud turned around and reassembled his weapon. He stood in his stance and waited patiently for Lloyd. He was nearly out of energy as well, using up nearly all of it with Omni Slash.

Lloyd nearly fell over, his vision was starting to get blurry. _"Maybe he was right, maybe I am too injured to do this," _Lloyd thought. He knew he couldn't go for much longer. Maybe he should quit.

"Come on Lloyd! You can do this," Sheena yelled after him. Lloyd's vision returned. He gave a small grin of confidence.

"_That's right, I have someone who believes in me, I can't quit. Not yet," _Lloyd told himself. He looked at Cloud. _"I'll see this through to the end!"_

They ran towards each other for their final clash, moving much slower than before. The audience watched them trade swings back and forth. Multiple clangs were heard every time their blades clashed. Lloyd ducked under one of Cloud's attacks and finally saw an opening. It was too late for Cloud to avoid it. Cloud knew he couldn't block it. Lloyd jumped towards Cloud ready to swing his sword one last time. He yelled as he swung it inches away from hitting Cloud. He used the last of his energy in that final attack. His blade was almost to Cloud when he almost fell to his knees. He dropped his swords and fell forwards. Cloud caught him in his arms. Lloyd vision was getting blurry and he almost saw three Clouds. He finally gathered himself to look as Cloud. He failed, he was so close, he felt it.

For some reason Lloyd wasn't disappointed at all. He felt really happy. He wasn't so weak after all. Cloud gave a smile so small, you had to be Lloyd to actually see it.

"You're pretty good," Cloud told him. Lloyd smiled back.

"Thanks, maybe we'll fight again sometime," Lloyd replied. Cloud nodded. Lloyd finally let unconsciousness take him. He was out with a stupid smile on his face. Cloud sighed. That fight was actually pretty fun. He wouldn't admit it though. He had no time for fun. Getting Tifa and the kids home was all that mattered to him. Lloyd wouldn't be such a bad kid after all.

However, Cloud had another thing to think about. Lloyd's dark personality reminded him of someone he wanted to forget. He was reminded of the whole reason he was here. He set Lloyd on the ground and walked away, not even staying for the ceromony or receiving the gald that was awarded. He left with one thing in mind.

"Sephiroth...I'll destroy you," Cloud proclaimed. He left the coliseum without another word.

**That was the end. I hope you guys enjoyed reading that as much as I enjoyed typing that. I'm ready to keep going with the plot and decided on who's coming from which crossover. If you haven't played or watched any of the crossovers, then please, don't hesitate to let me know. Later!**


	9. The Ninja Village

**What's up? I decided that I'm bored of typing this story so I'm going to cancel it...Just kidding, it's too fun. (Don't take it seriously!) Now realize that I had to dumb this one down a bit because I had a lot of ideas on how I was going to do this. How Naruto blends in will be perfectly explained later in the story. Anyway, now's a good time to continue the story. I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy VII, Naruto, or Devil May Cry.**

* * *

_Mizuho-The Hidden Ninja Village..._

A brown haired man clothed in a white kimono sighed as he sat at a desk filled with paperwork. He hated doing the paperwork for the village, politics, mission reports, and new missions were taking his toll, he wondered how Chief Iggaguri took care of it. Just then, a ninja wearing sunglasses and a blue bandanna entered the room with a look of urgency on his face.

"Vice-Chief, Sheena has arrived with an outsider," the ninja exclaimed. The man now known as Tiga sighed.

"Ebisu, Sheena is under orders to bring the traveler from Sylvarant here so we can discuss the terms of the Renegades and where he stands in this matter of conflict between the worlds. I believe I informed the village of this matter as of a week ago," Tiga replied knowing the Ebisu seemed to still have some fostered hatred towards Sheena. That and somebody else he knew. Tiga sighed again. It seemed Mizuho had some unfortunate luck the past decade. Being the Vice Chief was difficult when there was no suitable candidates to replace the fallen Chief. That moment, Ebisu bowed before leaving the room. Tiga wondered if any of the new Genin teams that were formed would show any promise today on their first missions, while Mizuho was a hidden village, they dispatched at least twenty shinobi in Ozette and Sybak to accept missions, even getting one from the King of Tethe'alla himself every now and then. They were the main reason that there was so much paperwork.

"I wonder how Naruto-kun is doing," Tiga thought out loud, a small smile coming to his face. The said boy was always hyper despite having no family and the villagers' obvious hate for him, despite he had no control of what happened at his birth, the death of the latest Chief happened during this event. Sheena and Naruto had a lot in common.

* * *

Sheena and Lloyd were standing by the office of Tiga. They left Meltokio as soon as Lloyd regained consciousness and flew by Rheiards. Lloyd complained about not seeing Cloud or Tifa before leaving and muttered about it the whole way, they landed in middle of a forest when Sheena knocked Lloyd unconscious the reason being that he wasn't supposed to know where the village was. That pissed him off severely saying that Sheena could have blind-folded him. Sheena shrugged saying that she couldn't take any chances.

"You may enter," they heard Tiga say. They entered the room to see Tiga staring at Lloyd before he even entered the room. Sheena gave a slight bow confusing Lloyd before he did so as well, maybe it was custom or something.

"We have arrived Vice-Chief. I made sure that the traveler from Sylvarant was unconscious before bringing him to the village," Sheena reported while Lloyd rubbed the back of his head. Tiga gave a slight grin.

"So, you are the traveler from Sylvarant, tell me...What is it that you wish to do in Tethe'alla, the land of your enemies," Tiga asked immediately getting to the point. Lloyd stood still, not replying. He was in thought. Finally he shook his head.

" I don't really know why I'm in Tethe'alla, what it is that I want to do. But there are a lot of people that are suffering right now because of Cruxis and I have to do something. Nobody should have to sacrifice anyone else to live, I can't accept that, I refuse to believe in a world that sacrifices others," Lloyd said. Tiga laughed. Lloyd reminded him of so many others.

"But sometimes people have to die for a greater cause," Tiga said eager to hear Lloyd's next response. Lloyd shook his head again.

"If that cause requires deaths of people that have their lives ahead of them, then it's not a great cause at all. Sure abandoning a goal is really bad, but abandoning others for the sake of that goal is horrible," Lloyd replied. Tiga instantly took a liking to Lloyd, he was reminded of Kakashi's saying.

"_Those who abandon the rules are worse than trash, but those who abandon their comrades for the sake of the rules are even worse than that."_ Lloyd seemed to abide by this without even knowing it. He gave another laugh.

"You are an idealist, like Mithos. He was a sublime idealist. Tell me, what if there is no other way to save the world you live in," Tiga asked.

"There has to be another way, Cruxis made the worlds how it is now, there must be a way to fix it," Lloyd exclaimed.

"Very well then, Mizuho will assist you in your efforts," Tiga said causing Sheena to jump back in surprise.

"But that means," Sheena half exclaimed.

"I know, we'll be cutting our ties with the Royal Family of Tethe'alla and the Renegades, however, it seems that your efforts with Lloyd here has them calculating a new plan," Tiga said surprising Lloyd that time.

"You knew about that," Lloyd asked. Sheena grinned, she didn't reveal that in her last report, Mizuho's information network was still running smoothly.

"I'll be sure to make an appropriate test of your skills to see if you are suited for work as a shinobi, that way, you'll have some chance to either refresh of gain new skills when the time comes," Tiga said looking back to his papers. "I'll have you both informed of Lloyd's team when the time comes," Tiga told them, knowing the perfect team to place him on. He knew that Sheena's defeat at the Coliseum was not to be underestimated, she was a Chunin after all. She could probably be a Special Jonin if she tried.

* * *

Lloyd was eager when he left. "You didn't tell me I'd be a ninja too," Lloyd exclaimed. Sheena was a little confused, the only way she knew of joining the village was marriage. While there had been few exceptions, Lloyd was one she'd never expect. But she was sure Tiga and the Elders had some reason so she left it at that. She also wondered about Lloyd's position on this. First he was accepted as an ally of the Renegades, then was made into a shinobi of Mizuho. Sheena had one last thought. Since Lloyd had no ability as a ninja, he'd probably be placed under a Genin Squad. But which one was what she wondered about. Without her noticing, Lloyd had wondered off. She sighed, it would eventually lead to a misunderstanding.

* * *

Lloyd wondered around wondering about being a ninja when he bumped into someone. The person he had bumped into had blonde hair (even spikier than Cloud's) and blue eyes. He was wearing a orange and blue jumpsuit that almost hurt his eyes. On his forehead he was wearing goggles. (Remember, while he is a Genin, they don't have Konoha hiate) Lloyd stared at him, he seemed to be around his age, if not a year younger. Lloyd looked at the abnormal whisker-shaped marks on each side of his face.

"Who are you," the boy asked suddenly, giving Lloyd a suspicious look.

"Give me your name and I'll give you mine," Lloyd replied also curious. The boy grinned.

"So you think you're cool. I don't know why you're in the village, but I can sure as hell kick your ass out of here!" Lloyd and the blonde stared each other down.

The boy pulled out a kunai knife to apprehend Lloyd when Lloyd blocked with one of his swords. The boy jumped back and did weird things with his hands confusing Lloyd. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Four copies of the boy appeared in front of Lloyd. Lloyd instantly took a look at their shadows. He was surprised to see they all had one, maybe the other guy before just really sucked. He dodged a swipe from one of them and retaliated by hacking through them. After defeating the clones he turned to the real one. "Not bad, but let's see you take on this many! Mass-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A hundred clones appeared causing Lloyd to twitch.

He was severely outnumbered and did not know which one was real. He unsheathed his other sword ready to start hacking through them. He charged at the army who obviously weren't expecting the attack and hacked through them. "Tempest!" He somersaulted into the air and took many of the clones with him. He landed on the ground now in middle of the army of clones. He slashed to his left and right while dodging blows. He was taking out a great deal of them without being touched. "Sword Rain!" He thrust his blades at rapid speed through five clones and planned on ending it. "Demon Fang Overlimit!" Lloyd launched a giant shockwave at the remaining clones tearing them asunder. Lloyd grinned at his handiwork before realizing that the real one was nowhere to be seen. He looked up, left, and right. The ground started crumbling beneath his feet and he instinctively jumped out of the way. He saw the boy launch himself out of the ground at where Lloyd was standing only to be confused. Lloyd grinned as he held a sword to his neck.

"Nice try, you make way too much noise down there, now you can tell me who you are or I can take this up with Tiga," Lloyd said glaring holes into the back of the boy's head.

"Screw you," the boy muttered loud enough for Lloyd to hear. Lloyd sighed before sheathing his blades, he felt a knife against his neck. Standing behind him was another boy, this one had black hair sort of shaped like a chicken. He had black eyes, wearing a blue shirt that had a red and white fan on it, and white shorts.

"You're lucky I'm here dobe, he could of killed you," the new boy said. Lloyd silently cursed to himself.

"Shut it teme, I had all under control," the other boy replied now spinning around and staring at Lloyd.

"If having a sword pressed to your neck was having it under control, then I'd hate to know what happens when you lose control," another voice replied. In front of Lloyd and the blonde appeared a man with white hair wearing a mask. and a hiate with no design on it. It covered his left eye. The blonde grunted. "You know, just because you were invited into our village, doesn't mean you attack our people," the man with white hair said in a bored tone.

"What? He's the one who attacked me! I was defending myself," Lloyd exclaimed obviously pissed. The man sighed before turning to the blonde.

"Is this true, Naruto," the white haired man asked. The blonde, now known as Naruto twitched.

"He was invited into the village? I thought he was an outsider," Naruto exclaimed. "How was I supposed to know Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi sighed now staring at Lloyd, motioning for the dark haired boy to remove the knife. Lloyd brushed himself off.

"Sasuke, report to Vice-Chief about our mission, tell him of Naruto's outburst with the outsider," Kakashi ordered. Sasuke just walked off with his hands in his pockets like nothing happened. "Naruto, it seems that if this outsider could defeat you, then you need more training. Meet me and Sasuke at six this evening," Kakashi ordered. Naruto grumbled as he walked, not even bothering to figure out where. Kakashi turned to Lloyd. "I apologize for his behavior, he tends to act without thinking," Kakashi told him before disappearing in smoke like Sheena did. Lloyd twitched.

"What the hell was that all about," Lloyd asked himself.

* * *

"So, I see you've met him," Tiga said to Sasuke and Kakashi.

"He seems to have skills in battle," Kakashi stated remembering Naruto's defeat. No ordinary genin could destroy a hundred of Naruto's clones. He even heard of Sheena's defeat at the boy's hands, and she was a chunin.

"I'm placing him under your team, for Sakura Haruno's replacement, I hope you can teach him well Kakashi," Tiga said causing Kakashi to jump back in surprise.

"What? You inaugurated him as a shinobi," Kakashi exclaimed rather than asked.

"Yes, because of his lack of ninja ability, I gave him the rank of genin, he needs to be trained in the basics. I'll leave the rest to you Kakashi," Tiga replied. Kakashi shook his head. Since Sakura left to train as a medic nin, his team was nearly uncontrollable, with Naruto and Sasuke bickering all the time. Now Naruto left an impression on their new squad member. Sasuke holding a knife to his neck didn't help either. But...

"_I'm sure it's nothing I can't handle,"_ Kakashi thought. Who knows, maybe it was what Naruto and Sasuke needed. Now, to find someone to train Lloyd and keep him in line. He thought of somebody and shuddered. Lloyd would be seriously screwed if that happened but she was the only not busy at the moment. "I'll train him to the best of my ability," Kakashi said before leaving the room. A new squad seven was formed that day.

**Yep, Lloyd's in Squad Seven of Naruto! Now, I'm thinking about a time-skip since the Journey of Regeneration doesn't start for three years. The next few chapters will be shaping Lloyd to who he'll be at the beginning of the journey. The rest will be like fillers like in many anime. Next chapter will be Lloyd's training. I'm not going to make Lloyd reliant on jutsu but give him ideas on what he'll be able to do later. See you guys later!**


	10. The New Squad Seven

**What's up my most awesome readers! Today Lloyd will go on a most excellent adventure in his ninja training. I'm sorry about the long wait. I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy VII, Naruto, or Devil May Cry.**

Lloyd stood about a mile outside of the village awaiting someone. He received a note that mourning to meet around the area he was in. So he had been waiting for three hours after the scheduled time, starting to get really pissed off. Then, Naruto had shown up confusing Lloyd.

"You're the one who sent me the note," Lloyd exclaimed pointing a finger at Naruto accusingly. Naruto raised an eye at him.

"What note? I'm just waiting for Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-teme," Naruto said bored. "Sensei always shows up four hours late so I show up three hours late to make sure I meet him," Naruto explained. Lloyd sighed. It wasn't Naruto he was waiting for. He wondered whoever it was had the same habits as Kakashi. Sasuke showed up less than a minute later and neither acknowledged nor ignored Lloyd's presence. They sat in complete silence for an hour when Kakashi showed up in smoke.

"Yo! Sorry I'm late, you see, there was a black cat that crossed my path. I didn't want bad luck so I had to convince it to retrace it's steps," Kakashi explained obviously lying.

"LIAR," Naruto shouted out accusingly. Kakashi shrugged. Lloyd had the feeling he wanted to shout at him too.

"Well, now that's settled, I'd like to introduce our new squad member," Kakashi said pointing to Lloyd. Lloyd twitched.

"Wait, I got that note from you," Lloyd asked. Kakashi nodded. Lloyd twitched, maybe he should of shouted with Naruto after all.

"Hmm...I guess you could say that. Now then, since you are new, why don't we all introduce ourselves. My name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes are none of your business, I have many dislikes, I don't feel like explaining my hobbies, and I have lots of dreams," Kakashi said causing Naruto and Sasuke to sigh.

"_That's exactly what he said last time," _they both thought.

"_Wow, all I got from him was his name," _Lloyd thought feeling the odd sense that this had happened to somebody else before.

"Your turn," Kakashi told him. Lloyd took a deep breath.

"My name's Lloyd, I like training and eating my dad's cooking, I dislike tomatoes, ass-holes who think they're better than everyone else, people who act like their the victim of everything, and sacrificing others. My hobbies are training and fighting really strong people, and my dream is to defeat Cruxis so noone has to suffer anymore.," Lloyd summed it up.

"_Hmm...It seems that Naruto and Lloyd agree on almost everything, I could see that they'd get along pretty well...I wonder what he means by Cruxis..." _"Alright your turn Naruto."

"I'm Naruto Uzimaki, I like ramen, training, and my precious people. I also dislike ass-holes who think they're better than everyone else, the time it takes for ramen to cook, my hobbies are eating ramen, training, and naming the different flavors of ramen. My dream is to be the next Chief! That way, everyone will stop disrespecting me and treat me like I'm somebody. My other dream is to protect all my friends," Naruto said.

"_Now I think about it, ramen isn't that bad...It's kind of like talking to a different version of myself," _Lloyd thought. He wondered what Sasuke was like.

"Sasuke Uchiha, there would be no point in naming my likes and dislikes because there is almost nothing that I like, my hobby is training, and I don't have dreams, but an ambition, to defeat someone," Sasuke said cooly.

"Umm...There really isn't much difference between a dream and an ambition," Lloyd said. Naruto was shocked because that was exactly what he was thinking. Lloyd had the feeling that Sasuke was like some of the people he described as ass-holes.

"Well...now that's out of the way, since we have a new team member, we won't be going on any missions for the next three days," Kakashi said his eye curving downwards, as if he was grinning. Naruto groaned in complaint. Sasuke stiffened. "Instead, we'll be learning to work as a new team and teach Lloyd here the basics of shinobi." _"This would be a lot easier if Sakura was here, hmm...how bout..." _"Naruto, what was the first lesson I taught you," Kakashi asked. Naruto grinned.

"That's easy. People who abandon the rules are worse than trash, but people who abandon their friends for the sake of the rules are even worse than that," Naruto stated. Kakashi grinned.

"Nope, though that was pretty close. Look underneath the underneath, deception is a shinobi's best skill," Kakashi explained obviously bursting Naruto's glory bubble. Sasuke sighed.

"Since he fights straight out, we need to teach him the basics of mana control and hiding in the shadows," Sasuke cooly replied.

"Sharp as ever Sasuke, that's right, we'll start with the tree-walking exercise," Kakashi explained as he walked up to a random tree. He calmly walked up the tree surprising Lloyd without using his hands.

"What the hell," Lloyd exclaimed. Kakashi grinned.

"All you have to do is send mana to your feet and walk up the tree. In order to be able to do it, you have to send the right amount and maintain it. Any questions," Kakashi asked. Lloyd thought after the explanation, it was pretty easy. "Good, you both will also join Lloyd to increase you overall mana level and give him tips when he needs it," Kakashi said much to the complaint of Naruto. Sasuke shrugged, it could help with his training, though he didn't need more mana, more could help. "Oh, it helps if you get a running start."

Lloyd grinned. He silently used his Demonic Rush arte and sent mana to his feet in large quantities. Surprising Naruto, he ran towards the tree at an insane speed and ran up the tree. He grinned the whole way up. _"This is way too easy," _he thought. He made it near the top before slowing down. A bad move on his part...When he slowed down, he was still using a large amount of mana. The tree where he was standing quickly formed a large hole and Lloyd was launched off of it. He cursed as he fell down. He quickly turned to land on his feet and stopped the flow of mana temporarily. He landed on the ground with ease and wondered what he did wrong. He looked up at the tree and saw the huge hole he left when he slowed down. He was confused.

"Hmm...It seems you used too much mana and the only thing that got you up the tree was pure speed. No more running starts for you," Kakashi stated, as if he was taking away privileges from children. "Try walking, and this time, don't even use half as much mana."

Lloyd sighed. Nearly everything he did used a lot of mana, he wasn't used to using little amounts. He saw Naruto and Sasuke sparring on the trees. He then had an idea. He walked up to the tree and planted his right foot on it. He tested how much mana it took to stick to the tree before planting his other foot. He grinned and slowly walked up the tree. He about lost his balance a few times when he lessened or increased the amount of mana he used. He realized that he needed to keep using the same amount without increasing it or decreasing it. He also grinned when he realized some of his artes didn't need as much mana as he pushed into them. Now he could use less and fight longer. He walked up the tree and before making it to the top, walked in circles making sure he had it completely mastered. He told himself that there was no point in using a half finished technique. After he felt confident he walked on top of it. He jumped down jumping branch after branch without using his hands. He landed on the ground with a sense of superiority.

"Wow, that was a lot faster than Naruto and Sasuke. Here I thought you'd take just as long," Kakashi said.

"How long did it take them," Lloyd asked.

"A little less than a week," Kakashi replied causing Lloyd to jump back in surprise.

"A week!? But it wasn't that hard," Lloyd exclaimed. He then suddenly felt the intent to kill behind him. He turned around to see Naruto and Sasuke, both popping their knuckles.

"He's right you know, even the dead last on my team did it in less than a day, same with the water-walking exercise," Kakashi said. Sasuke sighed before going back to brooding. Naruto however got even angrier. First the outsider beats him, then he makes hard training look so easy. He had no experience whatsoever and still defeated him. He just hoped that water walking would be better, or in Lloyd's case, worse.

* * *

They made it to The Ilse of Decision and Sasuke and Naruto demonstrated the water-walking technique. Kakashi just read his book. Lloyd walked up to the water. _"Hmm, it has to be different from the other exercise. You can't fall through a tree like water so it probably takes more mana, the water also doesn't have a flat surface so I probably need to constantly change the output of mana I use when there's a ripple," _Lloyd thought staring at it. He wasn't stupid when it came to training. He loved training too much to be stupid. He left being stupid for studying.

Lloyd took a deep breath, deciding to place his foot on the water. He shifted his mana and slowly placed his other foot on it and slowly walked out to the middle of the stream. He shifted and nearly lost his balance twice Before finally falling in. He heard Naruto laugh at him. Lloyd stood back up while still in the water. He stood still and watched the water, he realized he was being stiff when he sent mana to his feet causing his mana to be still. That made it harder to shift it's position and amount. So he relaxed and instead of forcing the mana out, he decided to let it flow in the openings he gave it. He suddenly found the exercise much easier and jumped around a few times. He was perfect at it. Naruto twitched.

"_He beat me again," _Naruto thought as he watched Lloyd. Lloyd grinned and ran around. He now found out how cool it was to walk on water. He loved it and ran in circles while jumping around like an idiot.

"Well, it seems you have natural talent for mana control. So now we teach you the basics, unfortunately, I'll be on a mission for the next month so I'll have to place you under a good friend of mine. Naruto and Sasuke will be joining some of the other teams on their missions while training you on their free-time," Kakashi explained. Naruto grinned, he'd show Lloyd how much better he was at being a ninja. "Make sure you two do a good job, or else I'll have to cutback your training," Kakashi warned.

* * *

"Hear that dobe, don't screw up," Sasuke told Naruto who was fuming in response.

"What does dobe mean," Lloyd asked curiously. However, he was bluntly ignored as Naruto and Sasuke started another of their pointless arguments.

"Shut up teme, I can still kick your ass," Naruto replied angrily. Lloyd raised and eye now wanting to know what "teme" meant

"Whatever loser. Keep telling yourself that," Sasuke answered mockingly.

"You wanna go right now? I'll pulverize you," Naruto exclaimed. Lloyd started waving his hands back and forth.

"Hey, there's no reason to fight right now, chill out," Lloyd exclaimed. _"These guys are worse then me and Genis," _Lloyd thought looking at the two.

"Don't tell me you're still sulking about the Chidori. Didn't Kakashi tell you? You're too weak to use it," Sasuke said darkly. Naruto grinned.

"I have a better jutsu! I bet it could easily defeat your Chidori," Naruto boasted of his technique. Lloyd wasn't interested, he was plain sick of it.

"_And it's only the first day. What the hell is a Chidori anyway? Nothing's making any sense," _Lloyd thought hopelessly confused.

"You wanna try that dobe," Sasuke said finally having an interested tone in his voice. Before Naruto could lunge at Sasuke, they both felt a sword at their necks.

"SHUT THE HELL UP! YOU'RE DRIVING ME INSANE AND I'VE ONLY BEEN HERE FOR A FEW HOURS," Lloyd yelled twitching angrily.

"WHAT! YOU WANNA GO TOO? SCREW YOU," Naruto yelled back. Murderous intent was in the air before the squad jumped into a large fight, in which Lloyd with his decency decided against using his swords to slice them to ribbons. Lloyd threw his fist at Naruto while dodging a kick from Sasuke. Sasuke leaped back and formed hand signs.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu," he exclaimed launching a giant fireball at Lloyd and Naruto. Lloyd jumped over it surprised to see Sasuke right in his face. He was even more surprised to see Sasuke go right past him, obviously going after Naruto. Lloyd grit his teeth.

"Ignore me huh," Lloyd cursed as he landed on the ground. He was now extremely pissed knowing Sasuke underestimated him. He whipped out one of his swords. He charged mana into the blade. "Demon Fang Overlimit!" He launched a giant Shockwave towards Sasuke. Sasuke spun around and formed more hand signs. He cursed himself.

"_I should've just ignored the dobe, of course he was bluffing, now I have to block this attack. I'll make sure not to kill Lloyd, just make him realize how much better I am than he is," _Sasuke thought as he finished his hand signs. He moved his right hand towards the ground and held it with his left.. A ball of lightning appeared in his hand and it slowly moved up his arm. He grinned at the astonished look on Lloyd's face. It cackled, making the sound of chirping birds.

"Chidori!" Sasuke ran at Lloyd at a supersonic speed. Lloyd silently used his Demonic Rush arte and ran at Sasuke, all of his mana charged into his sword.. _"So, he thinks he can overpower me."_ Lloyd was however shoved by Naruto who had a sphere of mana in his hand that seemed to be spinning. Sasuke saw this and his eyes widened before all three of their attacks collided.

* * *

"Now, what did we learn today," Tiga asked. Lloyd sighed. All three of them were in bandages and Naruto even had a broken arm due to the explosion their attacks. However, he was healed by a random medic.

"Not to launch deadly attacks against other deadly attacks hoping for the best," Lloyd said. Naruto and Sasuke nodded in agreement. "Now Sasuke, Itachi will be here to train you, I hope you learned your lesson. Naruto, I have Jiraiya on a mission so you'll be training with Team Eight," Tiga said. "You are dismissed." Naruto and Sasuke left the room leaving Lloyd confused.

"What about me," Lloyd asked.

"Kakashi has someone to train you, she'll be here, in fact she's here now," Tiga said smiling. "Enter." Lloyd turned to see a woman with light purple hair, she wore a fish net vest that was in fact very easy to see through, she also wore a jacket keeping certain spots covered.

"Hey runt, I'm Anko Mitarashi. I hope you like sweat and blood...," she said. She appeared behind Lloyd and cut his cheek with a kunai. "Because you'll be seeing a lot of it," she said licking the blood of her kunai. Lloyd twitched at feeling the sadist's breathe on his neck. It was going to be a long month.

**Sorry about the long wait. The next chapter will be Lloyd's training. He'll go on missions but they won't be the ones from Naruto. Also there will be a time skip towards the main story. I hope you enjoyed and I'm really sorry about the wait. And for those of you who are wondering, yes, Itachi is good. Not evil, he killed no families in his lifetime...yet...Or will he?**


	11. Dripping Hatred

**What's up? This is the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy this. I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy VII, Naruto, or Devil May Cry.**

* * *

"FASTER RUNT!" Lloyd ducked under a kunai threw at him and ran away as fast as he could. He was currently running through Gorrachia Forest avoiding snakes, kunai, shuriken, and exploding tags thrown at him, and that wasn't even mentioning monsters that stood in his way. "You still have to get to Sybak and back three more times," Anko called after him. Lloyd silently cried to himself as another exploding tag attached to a kunai landed in front of him. He doubled his speed against his body's will and barely got out of the radius of the explosion. He didn't even know where he was going, he was just running. Also the monsters he ran into weren't helping.

"_What kind of freaking training is this_," Lloyd asked himself smart enough not to say this out loud. He pulled out his swords and hacked through wolves and weird plants. He even killed through zombies that were carrying coffins. Anko called them 'Undertakers'. He dodged a volley of shuriken that Anko threw at him. _"And I have to do this three more times? How far away is Sybak anyway?" _Lloyd's question was answered when he finally broke out of the forest clearing and saw a city out in the distance.

"Alright runt, turn around and get back to the village without being spotted by anything, person or monster," Anko ordered. "That means no fighting the monsters either, _**don't get spotted!**_ Or don't bother coming back," Anko told him smirking devilishly at him before disappearing. Lloyd sighed.

"Well that sucks, that means no traveling head on," Lloyd said looking around. _"Hmm...I could use the tree walking exercise, but that would take way too long unless I jumped from tree to tree...! That's it," _Lloyd exclaimed in his mind. He needed to silently jump from tree to tree. He ran up a large tree and placed himself on a sturdy branch and saw other branches he could jump to. He grinned. He could do this quickly since there were so many trees. Using mana to time his jumps and stick to the trees, he was zipping through the forest, even finding a way to do so silently. He saw monsters underneath him with giant snakes watching them. _"I see, she has those snakes make sure I don't do any fighting." _He realized he didn't know where to go. He looked around as he jumped, eventually, he saw more monsters and snakes. This time, there was only one snake watching them. He raised an eyebrow at this. He had and idea. _"Maybe if I follow the snakes when they report to that crazy lady, I can get back," _Lloyd thought. He silently studied the snakes movements before it slithered away. He followed in pursuit.

* * *

It had been an hour after Lloyd followed the snake and he was starting to get really bored. _"Damn, why can't these stupid snakes go any faster," _Lloyd thought until he saw a crater from an explosion Anko caused earlier. He remembered it clearly. _"Instead of following this snake, why don't I follow the trail I used earlier," _he thought already traveling over it in the trees.

He saw multiple craters, kunai, shuriken, and dead monsters along the path. It was only then Lloyd realized he saw how many he had killed while running. _"Damn, It seemed like so much less at the time." _He finally reached the village on that path and sighed in relief.

"Not bad squirt," Anko said from right behind him. Lloyd spun around and jumped back.

"You're freaking crazy lady," Lloyd exclaimed pointing an accusing finger in Anko's direction. "And I have to do that three more times, it's sunset already, and I only did it once," Lloyd exclaimed. Anko laughed.

"I didn't say today, each time we do this will have different circumstances. We can relax for the rest of today, seeing your performance, we need you to learn the layout of the forest. Rather than nearly getting lost, nice job," Anko complimented. "Now get out of my sight, I got crap to do," Anko said before disappearing in smoke.

"You know, I have got to learn how to do that," Lloyd said smirking. He shook his head. He wondered about the time he hadn't seen Dirk and started to feel homesick. " I wonder what today is anyway," Lloyd said decided to go ask a random person in the village. He walked around receiving weird looks everywhere he went, both shinobi and civilians. He figured they probably weren't used to outsiders like himself. "Does anybody know the date," Lloyd asked. It was near the end of September when he met Sheena.

"October Ninth," one of the villagers replied

"Thanks," Lloyd said grinning. He saw the looks on many of their faces change. Lloyd figured it was because they saw what he was like and knew there was no reason for alarm. He then saw Naruto walk by in a bad mood. He looked at the villagers faces change again. He saw hatred in their eyes, some of them even displayed fear. And it was all directed at Naruto. He also saw sorrow in others, and respect in the rest. Not everybody hated or feared Naruto. Lloyd instantly felt bad and curious at the same time. _"Why would people look at him like that," _Lloyd wondered.

Lloyd followed Naruto on the rooftops for a time until Naruto stopped. He turned his head to look in Lloyd's direction. "Come out, I know you're following," Naruto called out emotionlessly. Lloyd decided to do as he was told and jumped off the roof and landed in front of Naruto. Lloyd grinned and gave a light wave. Naruto just stared at him before sighing and turning away. It was almost as if he was glad it wasn't somebody else.

"Why were you following me," Naruto asked, his usual vigor obviously missing from his voice.

"I wanted to know something. Why did the villagers look at you with so much hate and fear," Lloyd asked. Naruto's eyes narrowed before he let out a menacing growl.

"That's none of your concern," Naruto replied with a low tone in his voice. Lloyd raised an eye at this.

"Did something happen," Lloyd asked worried about Naruto. Naruto turned towards him with a murderous glare.

"**I said it wasn't any of your concern," **Naruto menacingly stated. Lloyd saw Naruto's eyes turn red and his whisker marks turn feral and dark. He decided to push it further.

"You know, I may not know what happened, or why people can hate a single person so much, but I know what it feels like. I just want you to know that," Lloyd said sadly as he stared into Naruto's eyes. Naruto's gaze softened before his facial features returned to normal.

"I...I couldn't tell you. You'd be just like them if I did," Naruto replied before turning away and walking off. Lloyd shook his head.

"How would you know that, I bet you'd have to try before saying that," Lloyd called out after Naruto. Naruto stopped walking.

"You have no idea what you're talking about. Believe me," Naruto stated before walking off again. Lloyd stared at Naruto's retreating figure as it slowly faded off into the distance. Lloyd felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Sheena standing next to him with a light smile.

"Don't worry about him Lloyd. He'll tell you when he's ready. It's a really sad story that isn't his fault. Don't blame him for the looks he received," Sheena told him.

"I wasn't going to," Lloyd replied. Sheena felt pretty sad too. It reminded her of a memory she wished she didn't have. She dozed off causing Lloyd to wave his hand in front of her face. Nothing happened.

"Sheena, hello? Anybody home," Lloyd asked before Sheena shook her head.

"Let's go, you'll stay with me while we're here, it shouldn't be long until you get missions, you'll need your rest," Sheena said. They both walked through the village receiving the same glares Naruto received earlier. Now Lloyd was confused.

"_First Naruto, then they act like we did something, wait a minute," _Lloyd noticed they weren't directed at him. He saw that they were directed at Sheena. _"What the hell," _Lloyd thought. He stared at them and saw their hatred. Lloyd almost scowled. He even saw that most of them tried to look indifferent too. However, feelings weren't something anyone could hide from Lloyd. He wanted nothing more than to rip them apart for being so rude. He could almost see Sheena crack under the glares she received. _"Those bastards. This her home? I oughta rip all these people a new one," _Lloyd thought.

They arrived at an apartment complex and walked in. They arrived at Sheena's home and Lloyd took a look around He saw one room with a bed, a kitchen, and a restroom. It was pretty small but he wasn't complaining. Plus it was really neat too. He already knew if he questioned Sheena he wouldn't get any answers so he didn't bother. He sat down by Sheena's bed and thought about what happened that day. _"How could people have so much hatred," _he wondered. He looked at Sheena and watched he go into her restroom. _"Seems like she's showering, I think I'll go out for a minute," _Lloyd thought as he stood up. "Sheena! I'm going out on a walk," Lloyd said through the bathroom door.

"Okay, don't get lost," Sheena called back. Lloyd sighed as he turned to walk out the door. As soon as he left, he saw three people with cloaks standing outside of it. Lloyd raised an eye.

"Can I help you," Lloyd asked politely. The people in the cloaks looked at each other before turning to Lloyd.

"Lloyd, we found it in both of our best interests if you would stay away from Sheena Fujibyashi and Naruto Uzumaki. It isn't safe to be around them," one of the cloaked men stated. Lloyd instantly glared at the man.

"Huh, is that so," Lloyd replied in a dark tone.

"Yes, due to events in the past, those two have been the cause of much misery and pain," another of them answered. Lloyd sighed.

"Alright, I'll make you guys a deal since I don't know what happened in the past. I can forget you ever had the nerve to come up to me and call my friends dangerous. In exchange, **you guys can get the hell away before I tear you all to shreds**," Lloyd said in a very threatening tone. He was radiating killing intent and white aura started pulsing out of his exesphere.

"You're making a big mistake Lloyd," the last one told him, his voice dripping with hatred, before all three cloaked figured disappeared in smoke. Lloyd scowled as they left and subtly walked off. Before he made it around the corner of a building he past, he saw Naruto staring at him. Lloyd stopped suddenly.

"Y-you heard that," Lloyd exclaimed obviously very surprised. Naruto gave Lloyd a genuine smile.

"You know, I was wrong about you! You're pretty cool after all. But one of these days I'm still going to kick your ass. Believe it," Naruto proclaimed. Lloyd stared at Naruto before smiling back at him.

"We'll see about that Naruto," Lloyd replied. Naruto sighed.

"Let's go find teme and go get some ramen," Naruto said.

"Sure! Then maybe we can knock him off his high and mighty throne later," Lloyd replied sarcastically. They both broke out in laughter when they imagined a nice and selfless Sasuke.

"Yeah, like that would ever happen," Naruto exclaimed holding his sides. Lloyd shook his head and they traveled off for a nice meal. They stared at the ever setting sun and wondered what would the next day bring.

* * *

**That's the end of the chapter, I figured Lloyd should know about the lack of respect that Naruto and Sheena have. It's pretty major to the plot later. Well I hope you guys enjoyed it. The next chapter will be October Tenth in the story and for those of you who don't know what that means, you'll see.**

**It so happens that I am in a really good mood. You see, my date of birth is next week, July 24th and I've decided to try and see if I can get a good amount of chapters posted by that day and have a surprise for you all. So make sure you guys are reading that day. Later!**


	12. The Red Eyes of Mizuho

**Hey guys! How's it going? I couldn't help but notice the lack of reviews last chapter but I really don't care as much as I thought I would. Today in the story is October Tenth and for those of you who didn't know what that means, it's simply Naruto's birthday. The day when the Nine Tailed Fox Spirit attacked the Leaf Village and was sealed by the Yondaime Hokage. I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy Seven, Naruto, or Devil May Cry.**

* * *

Lloyd gave a loud yawn and rubbed his eyes. He was standing next to Sheena's bed since there was really no room on the floor for him to sleep. Waking up to a comment from Sheena about being able to sleep standing, Lloyd was in a good mood. He found out that he liked ramen, though he was nowhere near Naruto's obsession. Lloyd and Naruto were both surprised to see that Sasuke had agreed to come, though his attitude didn't change much. Lloyd dismissed his thoughts and walked outside. He was going to find Anko and get his daily training over with.

He saw Anko at the training ground grinning at him like a predator who had it's sights on it's prey. Lloyd gulped. Anko appeared behind Lloyd and licked his cheek. "You're pretty lucky today, it's against our tradition to train and work on missions to work today," Anko whispered in Lloyd's ear. He knew not to react in a relieved tone, his situation would get worse later. Though he was pretty curious.

"Why? What's going on that's so important to stop training and missions," Lloyd asked curiously. Anko grinned.

"Allow me to educate you in our history runt. Today is a special day in which our village defeated the Kyubi no Yoko. The Nine Tailed Fox Spirit. He was a demon that ravaged the lands and created tsunamis with only a wag of one of it's tails. The demon fox fourteen years ago this day attacked the Village of Mizuho. Many lives were lost and all seemed hopeless until our last Chief arrived. He sacrificed himself to defeat Kyubi and saved the village," Anko explained to him. Lloyd was in awe. Somebody who could defeat a demon with so much power had to be strong. "Well, I'm off. Later runt," Anko said. With that, she disappeared in smoke. Lloyd whistled.

"Man, I really have to do that sometime,"Lloyd commented before walking off. Defeating a demon that strong, no wonder everyone celebrated. Lloyd before reentering the village saw Naruto and Sheena. He waved to them and ran towards them.

"Lloyd, we were just looking for you. We have a mission," Sheena told him. Lloyd raised an eye.

"I thought nobody received missions today," Lloyd thought out loud. Naruto grinned.

"We never were much for today's tradition," Naruto replied cooly, which was obviously unlike him. "Well let's hurry up and get going," Naruto said offhandedly walking off. As they made their way there, Sheena explained the basics of seals and jutsu. Lloyd was starting to grasp the concept pretty well.

"So, you can seal things into other things depending on the power you use and the size of the thing you're sealing," Lloyd asked.

"Pretty much, but you have to use the right amount of power and you have to give something for the thing your sealing. Like you can't seal a building into a piece of paper unless the seal is made for the building to fit. Then the right amount of mana is used for sealing," Sheena answered. Lloyd was now hopelessly confused.

"Huh," was the intelligent response Sheena received from Lloyd. She laughed in response. Naruto was uncharacteristically brooding to himself from the glares he was receiving as they walked through the village. "Well, you said you have to give mana to seal something right, if you use too much mana in an arte, you usually die, so is there seals that can kill the people who use them," Lloyd asked. Sheena flinched at the question. That certainly pertained to somebody else in the group.

"Well, there's only two that I know of, the Suicide Seal, and the Reaper Death Seal. Of course, there's probably jutsu that could cause similar results," Sheena explained. Lloyd almost fell over after hearing the first one, obviously knowing what it did. But he wondered about the second one.

"What's the Reaper Death Seal," Lloyd asked curiously.

"It's a jutsu only passed down from the Chiefs of our village. It's a summoning of a death shinigami which requires the death of the user to either eat the opponent's soul or seal it into something. Obviously seeing the price, it's a last resort move only being used once in all of it's history here in Mizuho," Sheena explained. Lloyd twitched at the thought of summoning a death god eating someone's soul.

"Wow, that sounds pretty scary, how come you know all of this," Lloyd asked her. Sheena sighed.

"Enough with the questions Lloyd, we're almost to the Chief's house," Sheena said.

* * *

They entered and saw Tiga smiling at them. "Kobunwa," Tiga greeted. Sheena gave a slight bow.

"Kobunwa Tiga-sama," Sheena replied. Tiga smiled wider upon seeing Naruto.

"I hope you're having a blessed birthday Naruto," Tiga said politely. Lloyd jumped back in surprise.

"It's your birthday," Lloyd exclaimed un intelligently. Naruto just shrugged.

"I guess, I couldn't really care less," Naruto replied closing his eyes. Lloyd looked on with interest.

"How old are you," Lloyd asked. Sheena punched his arm for being rude. Lloyd scowled. "I was only wondering," he muttered. Naruto sighed.

"Fourteen," Naruto replied darkly. Lloyd twitched. It was the same day that the Kyubi no Yoko was defeated. He silently muttered a wow in response. Lloyd was still wondering about it's defeat.

"_Many lives were lost and all seemed hopeless until our last Chief arrived. He sacrificed himself to defeat Kyubi and saved the village_," Anko's words ran through his head. _"Wait, so he used a jutsu to kill it and himself," _Lloyd mentally noted. Maybe he used the Reaper Death Seal. That would explain it's only use. _"But then again, I thought it was used for sealing if the thing it was used against was too big or too powerful, what could contain something like that," _Lloyd wondered. It would have to be something that could adapt to the demons power, like an animal that adapted to it's surroundings. Lloyd could only think that people could adapt and that was through a young age. He shrugged and let the topic go, not really caring anyway.

"No onto your mission, you three will be delivering a message from Yuan from the Renegades. This will be a B-Ranked mission due to the importance. It shouldn't be dangerous but with that distinct possibility that it could be a trap, I've assigned one of our strongest jonin to protect you and take charge of the mission. Enter," Tiga called out. The person who walked through the door was a teenage boy with black hair tied in a ponytail. He has black eyes devoid of emotion. He wore an armor plate the color of purple and black pants. Lloyd mentally noted this person scary as hell.

"Is everyone accounted for Tiga-sama," the newcomer asked. Tiga nodded lightly.

"They are...Itachi Uchiha." Itachi looked on emotionlessly. At his fellow comrades on the mission and smiled lightly.

"I apologize for my intimidating entrance. Sasuke left me in a bad mood this mourning. He complained about being woken up last night by you two," Itachi explained looking at Lloyd and Naruto. They grinned sheepishly. Sheena stared in awe. Itachi was rumored to be the strongest shinobi in the village since the last Chief.

"_The Red Eyes of Mizuho," _Sheena recalled his title. Itachi was known for his mastery of the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan, a bloodline technique that allowed the user to copy the opponent's techniques and hypnotize any enemies that stood within eyesight. Itachi had unlocked another of it's levels that even then was never explained. But it was rumored to be what made him so powerful. Itachi turned to look at Sheena with a light smile.

* * *

They stood at the village gate with items prepared for a journey to the Renegade base. Since they weren't going to use the Rheiards, Itachi had planned for someone to wait at the dock next to Ozette. They saw lightning to the north. Sheena absently minded squirmed upon seeing it. Itachi looked to her.

"Since you have experience with the Renegades, you'll be in front of the squad. Lloyd and Naruto will defend from each side. Due to my ocular ninjutsu, I'll take the rear, any objections," Itachi asked, the aura of a leader flowing around him. Lloyd shook his head. Naruto sighed.

"Let's get this over with already," Naruto said. Itachi shook his head when they all took formation. They leaped off into the trees. Now while there wasn't supposed to be any attack, it never hurt to be prepared for one. The group ran into a few rabid birds that wouldn't stop attacking them. They only proved to be a minor annoyance. Lloyd saw a village through the forest after two hours travel by trees. He knew it would take any normal person a day to walk through this forest.

"My friend by the dock will arrive tomorrow at dawn," Itachi told everyone. "Try and get some rest, and don't attract any attention. Shinobi usually don't go on missions today." Lloyd and Sheena nodded in response. Naruto sighed.

"Whatever, we get the idea," Naruto said walking off very Sasuke-like. Itachi raised an eye at this.

"_The rumors I heard of Naruto were nothing like this. Perhaps today has the opposite effect on him as it does the rest of the village,"_ Itachi inquired. _"Then again, this day surely wouldn't be a day to celebrate in his mind..."_

* * *

They separated and looked through around. Lloyd learned that the village they were in was Ozette. Upon walking around, he bumped into a man with pointy ears. He had purple hair and wore green clothing. He raised an eye at this man. Apparently he was an elf of some sort. The man's eyes widened when he saw Lloyd.

"_This is the wanted criminal Lloyd! How did he get here," _the man wondered obviously knowing who Lloyd was. He looked at his hand. _"The Angelus Project! So he is Lloyd. I shall take him now," _the man thought. He let out a loud whistle. Behind him, three baby dragons appeared. Lloyd paled not knowing why the man called the dragons.

"GAH! I'm sorry! Don't kill me! I didn't mean to bump into you," Lloyd cried as he dodged flames and lunges from the baby dragons. The man laughed evilly.

"Fool! I am Rodyle, the most cunning of the Five Desian Grand Cardinals! I'll retrieve your exesphere," the man exclaimed cackling. Lloyd twitched in anger. A Desian was in Tethe'alla! How could this happen?

"Desian! I'll kill you before you lay a hand on this! Beast!" Lloyd slammed his blades into one of the dragons, effectively killing it. He jumped onto another of the dragons an removed it's head. He jumped off as it landed on the ground lifeless. A fireball was launched at him by the last one. "Guardian!" Lloyd created a green force-field that blocked the fireball. Lloyd head three people land next to him. Itachi, Sheena, and Naruto must of heard what was going on. Rodyle grinned.

"Presea, come help me deal with these pests," Rodyle called. A little girl with pink hair landed next to Rodyle. She had a axe that was exactly her size. Lloyd twitched. This girl must've been strong. Seven more baby dragons appeared.

"As you wish," Presea said. Itachi's eyes narrowed.

"Lloyd, Naruto, you two need to dispose of the dragons. Sheena take care of the girl, your agility should give you an advantage. I'll take care of the ringleader," Itachi told them

"Look out for the people though, we're still in a village," Sheena added. They all nodded in reply. Itachi noticed the exespheres that Rodyle and Presea had. He sighed. If he needed to be able to fight on an even level, he'd have to unravel his Kekke Genkai. His eyes turned red with three tomoes. Rodyle twitched when he saw it. Lloyd, Sheena, and Naruto headed out to their respective battles.

"Your exesphere has changed matters. Now know the true power of the Sharingan," Itachi said staring into his opponent's eyes. Rodyle started casting a spell. _"Damn, I can't copy magic, I'm not an elf, I didn't anticipate this. I'll have to finish this quickly," _Itachi thought.

"Mother Earth, render my foe to smithereens, Ground Dasher!" The earth split open underneath Itachi and began to quake. Itachi immediately jumped to the side and pulled out a katana.

"Double Demon Fang," Itachi called out launching two shockwaves at Rodyle. Rodyle raised the earth before him and blocked the shockwave. Itachi created a shadow clone and threw it above Rodyle before forming the tiger hand sign. "Ninja Art: Exploding Shadow Clone." The clone above Rodyle exploded destroying the shield of earth. Rodyle jumped into the air and started casting. _"WHAT!? He can cast in mid-air," _Itachi thought obviously surprised. _"I need to finish this now, I didn't want to use this."_

Itachi jumped after Rodyle before he finished casting. "Mangekyou Sharingan!" His pupils and tomoes turned into a three bladed shuriken. He stared into Rodyle's eyes. "Tsukiyomi!"

* * *

The world around them turned red and black. Rodyle found himself chained to a wall. He looked back and forth in panic. He couldn't move or summon any mana.

"What's going on," he cried. Itachi appeared in front of him.

"This is the realm of the Tsukiyomi. Here, I control time, space, even physical mass, here, I am god. Prepare for seventy-two hours of torture," Itachi said calmly as he thrust his sword into Rodyle. He cried out in pain. When Rodyle looked down, there was no sign of where he was stabbed. He grit his teeth.

"You can't fool me pitiful human. I am a genius half-elf. I can tell this is an illusion," Rodyle exclaimed, only to be silenced by Itachi's blade.

"Don' think this is an illusion, your pain is no illusion, it is as real as any felt in reality," Itachi replied, three clones appeared behind him, each holding a blade. "Here, I am god, and you are nothing." Itachi stabbed Rodyle once more, his clones following in pursuit. Rodyle yelled in pain.

* * *

Three hours in the realm seemed to have passed, Rodyle panted heavily. _"It seems like it has been a few hours, I think I can last through this," _Rodyle thought grinning. "Is this the best you can do human!"

"One second has passed. Only seventy-one hours, fifty-nine minutes, fifty-nine seconds to go," Itachi said. Rodyle's eyes widened.

"How," Rodyle exclaimed rather than asked.

"Time, space, even physical mass, I control them all," Itachi repeated himself. Rodyle twitched. "Here, I am god, and you are nothing." Itachi had over a thousand clones of himself surrounding Rodyle. They each thrust their blades into Rodyle one by one. "Don't think this is an illusion, your pain is no illusion, it is as real as any felt in reality," Itachi and his clones chorused. Rodyle's pained screams were all that was heard in the realm of the Tsukiyomi, next to Itachi's reminders of who was god, and who was not.

**That's the end of this chapter, I hope you guys liked my introduction of Itachi. He has a sword and can use artes as well. Note however he is not all powerful, without an exesphere, he would've lost to Rodyle without the Sharingan. Well, probably not, he would've murdered Rodyle without it...You get the idea though. He'd lose to Yggdrasill and the three other Seraphim. I will continue with the fight next chapter and involve Presea into the story. Also, Lloyd's questioning on the fox and the Reaper Death Seal will be valuable to the story later. Can I ask a favor? May I please have some reviews this time? Later!**


	13. Horror of the Exespheres

**Hey guys, what's up? I was bored and I decided to catch up on Naruto by reading manga online and I couldn't believe what happened last between Sasuke and Itachi. Itachi was a lot cooler than I thought, and I already thought he was really cool. The story behind the Uchiha Clan was so captivating. Well, enough of that. My birthday is coming so I'll work on this until then. I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy VII, Naruto, or Devil May Cry.**

* * *

Rodyle fell over with a loud thud. Itachi standing in front of them fell on one knee panting.

"Damn, the Mangekyou Sharingan takes up too much energy," Itachi muttered weakly. His vision was becoming blurry. He felt his consciousness starting to fade. He shook his head and stood up. "I'll sleep after this problem is settled," he told himself. He looked to see how Sheena was faring against her opponent.

* * *

Sheena dashed at her opponent, hoping to disorient her with speed. Presea pulled her axe behind her before swinging it at Sheena. Sheena dropped to the floor to avoid the blow before kicking Presea into the air. She pulled out her cards and dashed to where Presea would land. Charging a small amount of mana into them, she readily prepared for her attacks. "Pyre Seal!" Sheena slapped one of the cards into Presea. Presea fell backwards. She caught herself and replied by swinging her axe upward, charged with mana.

"Infliction!" Sheena was hit into the air despite avoiding the blow.

"_What the, but how did she hit me," _Sheena asked herself. The blow wasn't sharp or heavy, like the axe Presea wielded. Sheena landed on her feet. She watched Presea run at her before swinging her axe. Sheena jumped back, out of the deadly weapon's reach and was hit by something blunt yet again. She skidded backwards a few feet before coming to a stop. She realized what was happening. Presea swung the axe with so much force that the wind of the pressure thrown by it could damage Sheena. Presea had insane physical strength. _"While it isn't enough to kill me, I need to find a way to avoid her blows completely._" Sheena dashed at Presea once more. Presea swung her axe in anticipation. Sheena jumped over Presea and flipped to land directly behind her. She hit the back of Presea's neck and shortly after, Presea fell unconscious. Sheena sighed. _"Exesphere or not, that was insane, that kind of strength was hardly human. I don't even think Lloyd with all his mana could swing with that much force," _Sheena thought. She looked to Lloyd and Naruto, who were fending off the dragons with little difficulty...

* * *

"Rasengan!" Naruto thrust the sphere of spiraling chakra into one of the dragons. He immediately jumped into the air to avoid flames from another of them. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He formed four clones of himself. "Uz-," one of the clones kicked the dragon into the air. "-zi-," another of the clones kicked it even higher. -"ma-ki," the last two clones kicked the dragon. Naruto was above the dragon preparing to land the finishing blow. "Naruto Rendan!" Naruto slammed his leg into the dragon's face before it was launched back at the ground. Naruto grinned. "Seems like I brought you, "Down to Earth" Believe it," Naruto said making a pun out of the fight. Lloyd saw heard this and grinned. He decided to have some fun of his own. He stared at the five remaining dragons and held out his blades.

"Prepare to be slain by thy blades! I shall vanquish thee," Lloyd called off in an noble accent. He raced towards them. "Tiger Blade!" Lloyd slashed a dragon's wing off when he jumped up and slashed the other one off when he came down. He grinned at the wingless dragon when it fell over and turned to the other ones. "Naruto, you said you brought one back to earth, I made one to where it would never leave it again," Lloyd joked. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, I killed one more than you did, and I bet I can kill more than you," Naruto exclaimed. Lloyd and Naruto charged at the dragons.

* * *

Minutes later...

Lloyd and Naruto were arguing.

"Whatever, I killed that one! I was the one who used Rasengan on it," Naruto proclaimed.

"Come on! It was still squirming afterwards. I was the one who removed it's head. It was me who got that one," Lloyd exclaimed. Itachi and Sheena looked back and forth between the shinobi who were childishly arguing. Lloyd killed two and Naruto killed one which had them tied with three kills each There was only one last dragon to break the tie but now they both were arguing who killed it.

"Shut up! It was an assist. I'm going to kill the next one who says anything else about this," Sheena claimed. Lloyd and Naruto immediately shut up and kept quiet. Itachi sighed.

"It seems like this man was one of the Desians from Sylvarant the Renegades spoke of, we should deliver his body directly to Yuan when we go to meet him tomorrow," Itachi said. He confirmed Rodyle's death. He didn't think that his opponent was so mentally unstable. His Tsukiyomi killed him. He knew that if he didn't have the Sharingan, he would've easily lost to this man, he needed more training. "Anyway, it seems we attracted a lot of attention and the Papal Knights will be here to investigate. I'd rather not deal with them at the moment. We'll be leaving for the docks and meeting my friend early," Itachi said. Everyone noticed that Itachi's eyes were crying out blood. This freaked out Lloyd and Naruto. Itachi rubbed his eyes clean and sighed. His eyes were getting worse every time he used the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"We need to get there soon then, we need to rest," Sheena said. Itachi nodded to her and they all went to the boating docks. Lloyd didn't move.

"What about her," Lloyd asked pointing to Presea.

"She was hypnotized by the exesphere on her hand. I could see the illusion she was under with my Sharingan. I would remove it, but it seems to be unstable, I could end up killing her," Itachi explained. Lloyd looked at Presea before shaking his head.

"We'll save you somehow. I promise," Lloyd said as he picked up the girl. Naruto raised an eye at Lloyd.

"What are you doing," he asked. Lloyd grinned.

"This exesphere is causing her problems. So all we need to do is find out what's so different about this one from mine and Sheena's," Lloyd explained as he put Presea on his back. He smiled lightly and turned to his squad. "So what are we waiting for, let's go see Yuan!" Itachi smirked and turned to the docks. They headed towards them ready to meet Itachi's friend.

* * *

They arrived after ten minutes of traveling and they saw a large ship. Sheena twitched upon seeing it's flag. It was black with a skull and two bones on it. It was a pirate ship. She saw pirates on the bow singing some song with many slurs, being as they were obviously drunk. She looked to Itachi to see him smirking. She paled.

"You've gotta be kidding me. You're friends with a pirate?! Are you crazy," Sheena exclaimed twitching. Lloyd and Naruto had excited looks on their faces.

"Awesome, we get to be on a pirate ship," they both proclaimed simultaneously. Itachi's smirk widened. He waved at the ship. On the deck, away from the drunk pirates, another one waved back before jumping off. He walked over to meet them. He was pretty strange for being human, his skin was blue and he had shark gills. Even his hair could be related to a shark fin.

"How do ya do mate," the man said to Itachi. "It's been too long my good friend."

"Indeed it has. Everyone, this is my friend, Kisame Hoshigaki, the Shark of the Seas. He's the captain of this ship," Itachi introduced them. Kisame grinned showing what looked to be very sharp teeth. Naruto grinned in reply.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Naruto Uzimaki, the next Chief of Mizuho," Naruto exclaimed pointing his thumb to himself. Lloyd grinned as well.

"And I'm Lloyd Irving," Lloyd said cooly.

"Nice to meet ya. Seem like you're pretty friendly," Kisame said in a sailor's tone. Sheena sighed.

"Sheena Fujibyashi. Pleasure to meet you," she said quietly. She wasn't really looking forward to talking with pirates. Kisame grabbed her hand and kissed it, causing her to blush.

"Pleasure's all mine miss," Kisame replied. Sheena turned away so noone would see it. She thought about the history between pirates and ninjas and it seems like that most pirates held grudges with them. But this was one that didn't seem to so she relaxed. Itachi explained the situation to Kisame and coincidently passed out in his arms. Itachi was really exhausted from using the Mangekyou Sharingan. "Seems like we're leaving a day early then. I don't want beef with the Papal Knights right now," Kisame said. They got on the ship and put Itachi into one of the bunks for him to sleep. Lloyd and Naruto gladly offered to help with the duties of pirates before they sailed for the Renegade Base.

* * *

It had been two weeks since they left Ozette...

"We've arrived," Kisame said as they sailed through the cold nearly frozen waters of the Flanoir Continent. Itachi felt much better and joined Naruto and Lloyd in their duties. They whole group were surprised when Presea woke up. She didn't try to fight or say anything, she was unnaturally quiet. Itachi stated that the exesphere locked her emotions away and she only did as she was told, a mindless servant. Lloyd pitied her, renewing his vow to save her. He wished he knew a way, he eventually decided to find a dwarf, or whoever helped do this to her. For some reason, Presea didn't stray far from Lloyd, no matter where he went. And listened only to him or Itachi.

"Thank you for your help Kisame, I realize the risks you went to do this, especially with the Papal Knights searching for you," Itachi said. Kisame grinned.

"Nonsense, your one of the best friends I ever had. You can ask me for anything," Kisame replied. Kisame turned to Lloyd. "Remember, if you can't kill your enemy quickly, then remove their limbs slowly and painfully," Kisame told him. Lloyd grinned.

"Well, I don't know about that..." Lloyd replied jokingly. Kisame ruffled his hair.

"Aye, you'll come around eventually," Kisame said. He turned back to his ship. "Well, I'd best be off. I know the Renegades will have a ride back for yeh, but if they don't, just give me a shout," Kisame said. Itachi nodded.

"I'll be sure to do that," Itachi said heaping a dead Rodyle over his shoulder, thankfully, the cold weather stopped him from decomposing. He didn't smell like...a dead person. They waved to Kisame as they sailed away.

Lloyd and the group walked into the Renegade Base with no protest from any of the Renegades themselves, though, they stared at Naruto strangely. They did not seem to hate him or be suspicious, but curious. They met face to face with Yuan.

"Nice to see you arrived, please follow to my office," Yuan said. They stood in front of Yuan's desk ready to hear about the situation. "It seems that I need to give you a few Rheiards since next time, you need to be able to report to me immediately. Anyway, Botta informed me of a question you asked me Lloyd," Yuan said. Lloyd raised an eye. "If you remember, you asked about what would happen if the Summon Spirits were awake in both worlds and we calculated an answer. If the spirits were awake in both worlds, then we could reunite them the great world it used to be," Yuan said surprising the entire group. Lloyd shook his head in disbelief.

"Wait, the worlds used to be one? Oh wait, I remember that now," Lloyd said grinning sheepishly. Sheena twitched.

"How could you forget a detail like that," she asked him incredulously. Itachi shook his head.

"So how would awakening the Summon Spirits save the worlds. I'm curious," Itachi said now taking an interest in this conversation.

"The Great Seed rests in the center of the two worlds, caged by the Summon Spirits of both worlds. When the Summon Spirits are awake, the mana flowing through the sides of the cages sever, destroying the ties that disconnect the two worlds. When the Summon Spirits awaken, the Seed's protection will fall and it will germinate, destroying Martel in the process," Yuan explained. Lloyd pumped his fist into the air.

"Alright! That's just what we need to do," He exclaimed obviously in a very good mood. Naruto grinned.

"So this is how we save the worlds huh, then we Lloyd goes back home, we can still hang out," Naruto exclaimed now pumping his fist into the air.

"Don't get excited yet, there's a drawback. In order for us to awaken them, we need to form pacts with all of them. In order to do that...We'll have to wait for the Chosen to release the seals. Otherwise, it's very risky, the Chosen could complete the journey before we finish the pacts. Sheena would form them of course but then someone would have to make the chosen go on the journey and make sure she doesn't fully complete it. The Day of Prophecy won't be for another two years, until then, you guys will have to settle with making pacts with Tethe'alla's Summon Spirits," Yuan said. Sheena looked down at the ground. She frowned and tried to repress memories that came to her mind. She told herself that this wasn't the place to break down. Itachi saw this and his cold gaze softened.

"Is there anyone else that could form the pacts," Itachi asked. Yuan shook his head.

"I couldn't and none of the Renegades have the Right of the Pact," Yuan said. The sullen look on Sheena's face became worse when she heard this. Without warning, she left the room. Lloyd raised an eye at this.

"Is she okay," Lloyd asked looking after her retreating form. Itachi sighed.

"It's a long story," he said. Naruto frowned too.

"You'll learn eventually," Naruto told him. Lloyd decided to change the subject. Presea was standing next to him quiet as ever.

"What about this loser we picked up," Lloyd asked darkly referring to Rodyle. Yuan looked at his dead body and sighed.

"This is a fake, no doubt it's one of his experiments. He probably thought about doing his dirty work without dirtying his hands. The Desians shouldn't know you're here yet," Yuan said. Itachi frowned. If it took that much energy to take out a fake, then he needed to train...a lot. Maybe an exesphere would help.

"Yuan, we'll need to borrow some Rheiards to get back home. We'll discuss the pact making at a later date, another thing that concerns us is this girl. She's wearing a strange exesphere that puts her under an illusion, it blocks her emotions and turns her into a mindless slave," Itachi said. Yuan took a look at Presea before his eyes widened.

"N-no way. An experiment of the Angelus Project," Yuan asked in disbelief. Lloyd's eyes widened.

"You don't mean?! The exesphere my mother stole from the Desians was part of the same one," Lloyd exclaimed. Yuan twitched. They didn't know how exespheres were made. He sighed, a long explanation was in order.

"First of all Lloyd, you should know how they exespheres are made. Remember that Desians capture humans and cultivate them in their Ranches? Exespheres are dormant at first. It feed on the inside of the host body like a parasite," Yuan explained. Itachi's eyes widened.

"Parasite? Host body? You don't mean...," Itachi started to say.

"Yes, exespheres are made, from the deaths of people," Yuan answered him surprising everyone in the group. Lloyd looked at his exesphere, discovering the source of it's power.

"So this is..." was all Lloyd managed to say.

"Lloyd, your exesphere is special. Kvar was trying to create an exesphere that could evolve into a Cruxis Crystal. He called it the Angelus Project. Your mother matched the data he needed to make it so he stored the dormant exesphere in her. Eventually, your mother needed to die so he could retrieve it. Your mother escaped when your father rescued you. They were chased down, with you as well when you were born, eventually, they killed them. You escaped somehow with the exesphere that was made from your mothers life," Yuan explained. Lloyd continued to stare at his exesphere.

"This is my mother's life..."

"But, Kvar made on mistake when he made it. He underestimated the exesphere's ability to evolve, it would become much more than a mere Cruxis Crystal, it's nearly unlimited power now is proof it would become more. Kvar does not know that yet," Yuan said. Lloyd eyes glowed murderously upon hearing Kvar's name.

"So, he's responsible for my mother's death," Lloyd thought out loud.

"Presea's exesphere here eliminates her growth, causing her to live a life with no emotion, it accelerates the growth the matching Angelus Sphere like you have. The real problem lies within her Key Crest. All you need to do is replace it with a new one," Yuan said. Lloyd relaxed and focused at the problem at hand. Lloyd smiled.

"Thank you. Hear that Presea? You'll be saved in no time," Lloyd said trying to remain cheerful. Even he couldn't say that with a straight face. He was using his mother's life as a tool. He couldn't help but feel bad about that. He'd have to tell Sheena later. They left without saying much more and decided to talk about the pacts in a week. Lloyd walked outside by himself to think for a minute and saw something he thought he'd never see.

"Sheena? Are you crying?"

* * *

**That's the end of the chapter. Since this is a deviation from the original story, Lloyd needed to know about the exespheres and his mother eventually. Plus, they really can't form the pacts unless Colette releases the seals in Sylvarant.**

**Well, the Rodyle Itachi defeated was a fake, Presea has a way to be saved, and the pacts need to be formed.** **Kisame is Itachi's friend, and the ninjas and pirates have a history (go figure)**

**Next time, The Truth Behind the Hatred. The failure of Mizuho. Later!**


	14. The Hated Failure of Mizuho

**Welcome to my next chapter and my favorite one to date. Tomorrow's my birthday! I worked really hard on this one and decided that I will be coming to the time-skip pretty soon. The pacts will be made and the Journey of Regeneration will start. I still don't know about making Itachi a main character since I had originally planned on Naruto and Sasuke alone. But now that I read the latest manga chapters, I really like Itachi more as a character than I ever did. He's probably my favorite one now...But I'm not sure yet... Anyway, I hope you guys continue to enjoy this story and I'll continue to write it. I hope I get a lot of reviews today.**

**Naruto, Sasuke and Itachi will be wielding weapons and using artes as well. But the problem is, I can't think of a good weapon for Naruto to use other than gauntlets. Either that, or I can have Lloyd and Naruto know how to fight like that, just have Naruto better at it since I don't want him to be useless to the group. Tell me your opinion on this or tell me what would be a good weapon for Naruto.**

**I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy VII, Naruto, or Devil May Cry.**

* * *

Lloyd stared at Sheena, and sure enough, tears were falling from her eyes. Lloyd immediately ran over to her and hugged her. He thought it was the right thing to do at the moment.

"What's wrong," Lloyd asked her worried. He stared into her eyes and waited for an answer. Sheena sniffled trying to wipe her eyes.

"It's nothing, I just remembered something," Sheena said. Lloyd shook his head.

"It's not nothing. I never thought I'd see you cry like you did. Is this about the pacts," Lloyd asked. Sheena looked at the ground. Lloyd got his answer. "Sheena...What happened? The hatred, your sadness, the Summon Spirits. Something happened," Lloyd said. Sheena started to sob again and Lloyd wasn't sure whether he regretted asking or not. He held her close to him. "Sheena...You can trust me. Sometimes, you have to cry when your sad. I'm not usually good at this, but...If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, or someone to listen to you. I'm always here and I always will be," Lloyd told her. Sheena slowly wrapped her arms around Lloyd and let out all her tears. Lloyd felt strange standing there. He saw her tears and her frown. He couldn't stand it. He never wanted to see them again. He'd do everything to prevent it. It was always like this when it came to women, even ones he didn't like. But seeing it on Sheena was even worse, it was the last thing he wanted to see. He couldn't explain why. Sheena finally broke away with a light smile on her face.

"Th-thanks, I needed that Lloyd," Sheena said. Lloyd gave a light grin in reply.

"Anytime, you can always come to me," Lloyd replied. Sheena stared at Lloyd. She almost was starting to lose herself when she looked into his eyes. She felt weird. She turned away and sighed.

"I should explain everything," she said. Lloyd was listening intently. "A long time ago, when I was seven, I learned that I could make pacts with Summon Spirits like Corrine. The village was so proud of me. My grandpa was the Chief of the village," Sheena explained. Lloyd was shocked, he didn't know that. "We were going to increase our technology but we needed a special mana, the lighting Volt produces. I could make a pact with him. My grandpa, me, and half of our village went to the Temple of Lightning to form the pact. I didn't know what I was doing. We tried to form the pact, but..." Sheena began to hesitate. She started shaking up. Lloyd saw the tears build up in her eyes again. He almost didn't want to know what happened next. "Volt went out of control, and started to kill us all," she finished. Lloyd's eyes widened. He saw tears fall from Sheena's eyes again. "Everyone there had died, my grandpa fell into a coma, all because I couldn't defend myself." She started crying again. Lloyd hugged her again. He felt bad about what happened, he knew what she would have to do really soon. "I can't do it...I'm too weak," Sheena said. Lloyd shook his head.

"That's not true Sheena. You were only seven. I don't even know why they would prepare you for something of that magnitude when you were so young," Lloyd said. "You're so much stronger now, I bet you could easily take Volt down," Lloyd reassured her. Sheena shook her head violently.

"I can't. You guys would get hurt," Sheena replied. Lloyd smiled.

"That's not true. I believe you can do it. I know you can do it," Lloyd said smiling. Sheena stared at him.

"What if Volt goes berserk again," she asked him. Lloyd let go of Sheena and faced the Temple of Lightning. He unsheathed a sword and swung it in Volt's direction.

"Then I'll cut him down and that'll be the end of it," Lloyd exclaimed with confidence. Sheena stared at him, she wanted to believe him, but she couldn't. But still...

"I'll try..." Sheena said her voice obviously filled with doubt. Corrine appeared. Next to them.

"Don't worry Sheena, I know you can do it," Corrine said. Sheena had a distant look on her face.

"Yeah...sure," she replied quietly. Lloyd stared at her worried as she made her way into the base again. He grit his teeth. He realized the source of the limitless hatred the villagers held for her.

"That's right Lloyd. The villagers blame her for what happened on that day," Naruto said surprising Lloyd. Lloyd turned to Naruto and saw the same disgusted look that he himself had. "But, a lot of them lost a lot of their families that day, so don't judge them too harshly," Naruto said.

"But she was only seven! How could they hate her for something they pushed on her," Lloyd exclaimed. Naruto grinned.

"You know, the more I get to know you, the cooler of a guy you seem to be. You're really cool," Naruto said. Lloyd's gaze softened. "I don't know, but the villagers have hated people for worse reasons," Naruto said darkly. Lloyd remembered that they hated him too. Lloyd didn't get it. "Just because you're so cool, I'll tell you why they hate me someday. Hopefully, you won't hate me after I tell you," Naruto said confusing Lloyd. Lloyd shook his head.

"Listen, I don't know whether they hate you for something that you did or not but...I believe that everyone has the right to atone for what they did, not that what happened was your fault or anything," Lloyd said. Naruto smiled.

"It's official, you're the coolest dude I've met in a long time," Naruto said jokingly. Lloyd grinned at the light joke. "Come on, we got crap to do," Naruto said walking back into the base with Lloyd following shortly behind.

* * *

Lloyd and the group were flying back to Mizuho on the Rheiards. They agreed to meet Yuan in a week and travel to Temple of Lightning. Now they had six Rheiards. Enough for Kakashi and Sasuke as well. Lloyd shared one with Presea. Naruto had a little difficulty flying it at first, but was much better off than Lloyd on his first time. Itachi easily mastered it, even flying better than Sheena. They arrived at Mizuho and walked into the village. Lloyd and Itachi decided to make the report to Tiga.

"I see...so we'll have to make pacts...I assume you got Sheena to agree," Tiga stated. Lloyd nodded with a sad smile on his face. Tiga looked at Lloyd curiously. "Sheena thinks of you very highly. No doubt you must be a good friend, she wouldn't do this otherwise. Please don't push anymore than you have to," Tiga said. Lloyd nodded genuinely. Tiga looked to Itachi. "Itachi, I have a S-Ranked mission for you. You must accompany Lloyd and Sheena to each seal and help with the Summon Spirits. You two are dismissed," Tiga said. Lloyd and Itachi bowed slightly before leaving the room. Lloyd stopped at the door. "Is there something you'd like to ask me Lloyd," Tiga asked. Lloyd sighed.

"Can Naruto and Sasuke come as well? It might be nice if she had some friends she grew up with to help as well," Lloyd said. Tiga smiled at this.

"I will take this into consideration," Tiga replied. Lloyd smiled.

"Thank you," he said before leaving the room. Tiga smiled, Sheena and Naruto found a really good friend in Lloyd. All he wondered about was where Sasuke stood in all of this. He sighed, sometimes the village could really complicated when it didn't need to be.

Lloyd walked out wondering about what happened earlier. The tears he saw on Sheena, the villagers contempt for her, and Volt. What would happen was what he wondered. He knew and believed in Sheena's ability to win. He wouldn't let that happen to her again, even if it meant dying.

He was also worried about his exesphere, it was his mother's life. He didn't know if he could continue using it. He knew Itachi would tell Sheena but he needed to know what would happen if he used it. He knew of it's untold power.

"Mom...would you hate me if I continued to use this," Lloyd asked it hoping for a reply. He closed his eyes. He would of been defeated a long time ago had he not had it. He couldn't just get rid of it. He wondered what would happen, what he would want if he was an exesphere. Instantly, he grinned. "That's it! I'll stop this cycle, so nobody will become exespheres anymore! Then I'll destroy all the exespheres!" Feeling satisfied with himself, he continued on with his walk to Sheena's home. _"I vow, that one day, nobody will be sacrificed for anyone else ever again. Everyone has the right to live!"_

* * *

Lloyd, Sheena, Itachi, Naruto, and Sasuke stood in front of Tiga. Ready for the Temple of Lightning, it had been a week since their meeting with Yuan, and Sasuke had been informed of the situation. He took well to saving the world. He despised that Itachi would be there as well. He'd need to outperform him to gain any respect.

"Now, you all are nearly ready, this is a _gift _from Yuan. Knowing where these come from, they make me sick...But you'll be needing these. I'm sorry," Tiga apologized. He handed each of them excluding Lloyd and Sheena an exesphere with a Key Crest attached. Presea was sent back home to Ozette and Lloyd would be over there after the pact making. There was an extra Key Crest in the _gifts _that Yuan sent. He knew it was for Presea. Everyone attached the exespheres to find that their mana supply nearly quadrupled along with their physical capabilities. It's power was amazing. They all saddened at the thought of where they come from but Tiga was right. They would need these for the Summon Spirits. They each took a slight bow before leaving. They arrived at the gate.

"Yuan said he would meet us at the temple. Lloyd, Tiga appointed you and Sheena as the leaders of this S-Rank mission. Your orders," Itachi asked. Everyone stared at Lloyd, none more so than Sheena. Lloyd looked back and forth between them before grinning.

"My orders? We give Volt hell if he doesn't cooperate, that's what," Lloyd replied in a cool tone that had everyone smirking, with the exception of Sheena. She shook her head, Lloyd didn't know what he was getting into. Corrine frowned at her.

"See Sheena, everyone believes in you. And if anything happens, I'll protect you," Corrine said to her. Sheena shook her head.

"I don't think you're strong enough Corrine," Sheena said. Corrine's frown deepened as Sheena walked away.

"Sheena..."

* * *

The group boarded the Rheiards and flew towards the Temple of Lightning. Ready to overcome whatever would happen. They were all determined ready for the journey to save the world. The only one who wasn't confident was Sheena. She still doubted her abilities. Lloyd looked at her worriedly. They arrived at the temple to see Yuan standing outside of it with Botta.

"Good, you're all here, I'm here with Botta to inform you that while I can help you get through the temple, I can't help you form the pact with Volt," Yuan said. Lloyd glared at him angrily.

"What do you mean you can't help," Lloyd asked. Yuan looked at Lloyd like a small child that had no brain.

"Well, for starters, I use the element of lightning. Volt so happens to be a Lightning Summon Spirit. I'd be making things worse, that's why Botta's here," Yuan replied like talking to a mentally retarded person. Lloyd twitched.

"Why you..." he started but Sasuke placed a hand over his mouth.

"That's enough. Let's focus on the matter at hand," Sasuke said. Yuan smirked.

"I'm glad to see that Lloyd is the only idiot in your group," Yuan insulted him. Lloyd grit his teeth. He calmed down and looked at Sheena. She was already horrified by walking into the temple. He smiled sadly and held her hand, squeezing it gently.

"It'll be fine. I promise," Lloyd said. Sheena looked at him before sighing. They all walked into the temple, with Lloyd and Sheena hand in hand. They walked through the entrance and saw all the monster the place held. They saw the Seal and knew that some fighting would be required if they wanted to get in. Yuan and Itachi stepped to the front of the group.

"Leave this to us. We'll handle the monsters," Yuan said. Itachi pulled out a katana and faced his enemies. Yuan held out his hand and in a flash of lightning, a double blade appeared in it. He threw off his cape.

"Don't worry about us. You'll do well Sheena," Itachi said smiling at her. Sheena took a deep breath and walked forward. Lloyd, Sheena, Sasuke, Botta, and Naruto walked towards the Seal. Yuan explained that the Summon Spirits refused to take on more than four people at a time, so one of them would have to sit out. Naruto agreed that he'd distract any monsters Itachi and Yuan missed, so Sheena could form the pact. Corrine sat on Sheena's shoulder, trying to encourage her, but nothing he did would work.

They made it to the seal and stood in front of it. Suddenly, a large bolt of lighting struck it and a purple ball of lightning with red eyes floated in front of them majestically. Sheena took a step back in fear, a single tear fell from her eye.

* * *

_Meanwhile..._

Yuan and Itachi stood back to back, in the midst of all the monsters. Snakes with human upper bodies, floating sword engulfed by electricity, and birds made of lightning itself surrounded them by the hundreds. Yuan grinned.

"Well, there wasn't so many last time, I might break a sweat this time around," Yuan said. Itachi smirked.

"Against this many? You're obviously getting old," Itachi joked with a serious tone in his voice. Yuan smirked as well.

"You just might be right about that," Yuan replied. At that, they leapt at their foes. Soon after, Naruto joined in.

* * *

**That's the end of this one. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Tomorrow is my birthday. I promise that there will be another update then, make sure to read it! Later! Don't forget to review about your opinion on Naruto's weapon.**


	15. Thunder: A darker side of Lloyd

**YOSH! TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!! Not that it's too big of a deal. But since I want to have some fun with this chapter, I'll make it my longest yet. I might even throw in another one. I'm waiting on your opinions about Naruto's choice of weapon so feel free to tell me. I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy VII, Naruto, or Devil May Cry. ENJOY!!**

* * *

_Lloyd stood in the midst of thousands of flames, death surrounded him. Those alive were screaming in unimaginable pain. He stood there seeing only one person that stood un-injured. The one responsible for this hell. The one he saw...was himself. Lloyd took a step back in disbelief. He couldn't of done this to Luin. But yet, the other he saw was smirking at him_.

"_**Welcome to my dream...Lloyd. All that you see before you, is what will happen," **__the other him said. Lloyd looked back and forth frantically. He saw the bodies of Genis, Colette, Raine, Sheena, Naruto, Sasuke, and somebody else that looked familiar. They were all lying before him.__** "You can't possibly hope to stop this. After all, it's who you're becoming..."**__ Lloyd flinched, anger built itself uncontrollably inside of him, leaving nothing but hatred for what he saw._

"_Shut the fuck up! What the hell do you know about me? You don't know anything about me," Lloyd exclaimed. The other him laughed, like this was all a hilarious joke. Lloyd grit his teeth and pulled out his swords._

"_**Foolish human blinded by the light. All that you see before you is what you're becoming. After all, when your last shred of light is gone, when it fades away...I'll be who you are**__," the other Lloyd answered him cackling darkly. His laughter fueled Lloyd's anger. __**"I can see it all...what you think, what you feel, and how you exist Face it, I'm you!"**_

* * *

Sheena was visibly shaking at the sight of Volt. Lloyd put his hand on Sheena's shoulder and gave her a nod of encouragement. Sheena inhaled the air deeply before taking a step forward.

"I am Sheena. I seek a pact with Volt," Sheena said stating her purpose. Volt replied in light sounds of electricity.

"..." Sheena jumped back in surprise.

"It's just like before! What the hell is he saying," Sheena asked in panic. Lloyd sighed. This was going to be difficult.

"Sheena calm down, we'll figure out," Lloyd replied. Sheena dropped her guard. Botta stepped forward.

"I'll translate. "I am one who is bound to Mithos. I cannot form two pacts at once," Botta explained.

"Wh-what? What do we do now, I wasn't told about this before," Sheena said. Lloyd shrugged.

"Well...huh. Can't you just get him to cancel the old pact or something," Lloyd asked curiously. Sheena glared at him.

"Oh really. I'm sure it's so easy to do that," Sheena answered sarcastically. Lloyd frowned. He knew that Sheena didn't want to be here, but she didn't have to doubt everyone else as well.

"Well, I'm pretty sure it is that simple," Sasuke said smirking. He pulled out his katana, extremely similar to Itachi's. Botta smirked as well.

"He's right, it's possible that the previous pact-maker has broken his vow...or died," Botta said. He pulled out his large ice broad-sword. Lloyd caught on and withdrew his blades. Sheena sighed.

"I ask that thou annul thy pact with Mithos, and make a new pact...with me," Sheena said hesitantly.

"..."

"I refuse the pact. I will have no more dealings with people," Botta translated. Sheena pulled out her cards.

"But we need your help," she exclaimed. Volt replied with lightning that launched the group a few yards back. Sheena landed on one knee and panicked. "Everyone look out! This is just like before," She exclaimed. Volt floated in front of her. Sheena froze, her body unable to move. She was paralyzed with fear. Volt charged a ball of lightning at her. Lloyd looked up and his eyes widened. Sheena was about to die.

"Sheena," he called after her, but it was too late, a bolt of lightning flew at Sheena and it showed no signs of stopping. Sheena showed no signs of moving. Though Lloyd knew it was hopeless, he ran towards her. He screamed out a battle-cry as his speed tripled. Even then, he knew he'd be too slow.

Sheena's eyes widened when the lightning almost struck her and it dissipated. He saw Corrine in front of her, badly burnt. He fell over. Sheena instantly ran over to him and kneeled next to him. Her face was in tears.

"Corrine," She exclaimed seeing.

"Sheena...Volt's...just lost his faith in people...You have to make him...believe in them again," Corrine said weakly. His life was fading, fast. Everyone could tell.

"No Corrine! Don't die," Sheena cried. Corrine chuckled weakly.

"I believe in you. I...know you can do it...Sheena..." and with that, the small Summon Spirit died. Sheena's first true friend, forever gone from her life. Volt charged another ball of lightning at Sheena.

"Oh hell no," Lloyd said darkly facing Volt. He failed to protect everyone. He failed Sheena, he didn't keep half of his promise, so he decided like hell he would keep the other half. "Sheena! Get a hold of yourself. Don't let Corrine's sacrifice go to waste!" Lloyd deflected a lightning bolt Volt threw at him.

"Corrine!"

"If you let him down now, you'll forever be haunted by Volt's shadow. Sheena stood up. She turned to Volt, tears in her eyes. Her face hardened with determination and hatred. Lloyd grinned. _"You're so screwed now," _Lloyd thought evilly staring at Volt. Sasuke and Botta stood up and prepared themselves for the battle with the Hammer of Godly Thunder.

"For the sake of everyone who risked their lives to protect me Volt, I DEMAND YOUR POWER," Sheena cried out charging at Volt. Lloyd smirked as he saw Volt float away. He ran behind it, white aura emanating from his body. Lloyd smirked as Volt turned to see him.

"**Where the hell do you think you're going," **Lloyd asked in a dark cocky tone. Sheena planted a card on Volt's body. Lloyd started slashing at Volt wildly. Ready to make Volt feel the countless pain he brought to others. Sasuke formed hand signs.

"You know, a lot of my clan died that day. Don't think I don't have any beef with you. Fire Style: Grand Flame Dragon Jutsu!" A large dragon made of fire erupted from Sasuke's mouth and flew right through Volt. Sasuke activated his Sharingan. He ran up to Volt and charged mana into his blade. "Fang Blade!" He slashed Volt down before slashing upward, jumping into the air.

"Ground Dasher!" Volt was engulfed in an earthquake. Botta grinned. He didn't want to be left out. Lloyd slashed at him before jumping back. There was no way he'd be outdone. He grinned evilly. He wanted to test something he had been working on ever since he lost to Cloud. He never had enough mana to do it though. But now...

"**My turn! Source of all limitless power, bring forth the blade of protection, also the blade that can destroy all...BLADE OF INFINITY!" **Lloyd sheathed his swords and raised his hand into the air. He practiced this arte for awhile, never having enough mana to do it. White mana erupted into his hand, forming a blade ten times his size. He grinned evilly and charged at Volt. He let out a loud cry as he slashed at Volt with his blade. Volt was unable to move as Lloyd continued his barrage of attacks. Lloyd then jumped back and held the mana blade in both of his hands. He brought it over his head and behind him. **"SAY GOODBYE! HAAAH!" **Lloyd cried out as he swung his blade and shot out a huge beam of mana at Volt. It almost engulfed Volt, but Volt teleported out of the way. Lloyd's eyes widened as his attack missed. The white mana faded around Lloyd, he fell to his knees and panted. "Damn it, I'm out of mana," he cursed.

Volt started casting a spell that Sasuke and Botta realized immediately upon seeing it. It was aimed at Lloyd. Sasuke grinned. He had improved a move he wanted to try out. He always wanted to see if he could do the same things Kakashi did. He formed hand signs and put twice as much mana into it than he usually would. A much larger Chidori formed in his hand as he charged mana into it. He looked up to see that Volt had finished casting. Sasuke leapt above Lloyd ready to intercept the spell.

"_Thunder Blade..."_

Sasuke saw the blade of lightning fall at him at an incredible speed and smirked when he pulled back his arm.

"RAIKIRI," Sasuke cried and he hit the blade of lightning, it snapped right in half before fading away, effectively missing Lloyd. Sasuke grinned. _"It worked!!" _Lloyd sighed in relief. He almost thought he was royally screwed. Sheena decided it was time to finish the fight. She formed hand signs and cards floated in the air around her. They circled around her at a fast pace before she grabbed one. She charged at Volt with the card in her hand and let out all of her mana into it.

"Demon Seal!" She planted the card on Volt. In a bright flash of light, Volt was skidding along the ground. He floated back into the air. He summoned a magnetic field around him, engulfing the whole group. Lloyd paled.

"Oh shit..." he muttered tiredly. He stood up and brought up his blades in defense. Everyone did the same all ready to use the same arte. Lloyd knew he could push in one more. Lightning bolts by the hundreds fell from the sky. They were screwed if they didn't time their defense right. Summoning mana, they all braced themselves before the lightning struck.

"GUARDIAN _SEAL_," They all cried with Sheena crying out the second word as force fields formed and defended the onslaught of thunder. They stood as the attack finished, barely holding their force fields to the end. Lloyd panted heavily as he forced that mana out of him, seeing as he was already nearly depleted. Volt stared at them before making small sounds of electricity. Botta smirked.

"..."

"Summoner, make your vow. I will try to believe in people once more," Botta said surprising everyone. Sheena let out air she had been holding in.

"Like I said before, for the sake of everyone who risked their lives to protect me...and for Corrine's sake as well. I wanna save both worlds. Sheena smiled sadly.

"..."

"Very well, then I shall entrust my power to you Sheena," Botta said. Volt faded into a ball of mana and made his way into Sheena's hand. Sheena held it before bringing it to her body, the mana faded into her. She could feel it's power. She sighed. It was hardly a replacement for Corrine. Corrine could never be replaced. He was gone from her life. A sad look built itself on her face. Lloyd saw this and smiled sadly.

"Sheena...You did great, I'm sure Corrine would be proud," Lloyd said to her. Sheena smiled.

"Yeah...I just wish that...I could apologize to him," She replied quietly. Lloyd shook his head. He stood up and instantly pain overcame him. He stared at his exeshpere to see it glowing.

"What the...?" The pain bolted at him again, he grunted. He coughed up blood. His eyes widened at the sight of it. The pain bolted at him once more causing him to scream. Everyone instantly rushed towards him. Lloyd fell unconscious.

* * *

_Lloyd awoke in a weird place. He sat up and saw nothingness, white wherever he looked. He recognized this place. He heard a voice that soothed him before. He heard a dark laughter that he didn't find as soothing. He turned to see...himself?_

"_**So, I see you're enjoying the power your exesphere gives you. That attack was pretty cool," **__the other him said. Lloyd raised an eye._

"_Who are you, and why do you look like me," Lloyd asked. The other Lloyd jumped towards Lloyd surprising him. He landed an inch in front of him and smirked. Their noses were almost touching. Lloyd saw his eyes, they were his except they were missing something. He couldn't place what it was. The other Lloyd disappeared behind him and held his arm over Lloyd's shoulder. Lloyd shivered._

"_**You can call me Dark. As for what was missing in my eyes, was light," **__Dark replied causing Lloyd to jump out of his grip._

"_How did you-," Lloyd was cut off._

"_**Know? I can feel what you think here...Friend," **__Dark replied. Lloyd glared at Dark. He didn't like the tone when Dark had said "Friend". Dark laughed. __**"Oh come on! Don't be so stiff! You can trust me," **__Dark said. Lloyd's eyes narrowed._

"_Really," Lloyd stated rather than asked. Dark shook his head._

"_**Well, whatever, it doesn't matter anyway. I'm here to warn you about the exesphere. You're being tainted by it's power. You could become someone you don't to be if you continue...Not that I'm complaining," **__Dark said cooly. Lloyd let down his guard._

"_What do you mean," Lloyd asked. Dark started to fade away. Lloyd twitched. "HEY! What the hell do you mean!" He was ignored._

"_**You're waking up..." **__was all Lloyd heard before the nothingness materialized around him to become the Temple of Lightning._

* * *

Lloyd sat up again panting heavily. He saw Sheena and Naruto standing over him with relieved looks on their faces. He smiled lightly, forgetting the dream he just had. He heard a faint voice in his head. _**"Don't forget Lloyd..." **_He ignored it and shook his head.

"Thank goodness you're okay," Sheena said. Lloyd realized how worried she must've been, she already lost one friend today...

"Sorry to worry you guys. I apparently needed rest," Lloyd said grinning. He stood up and brushed himself off. Naruto grinned. He saw Itachi and Yuan walking towards them. They had destroyed every monster in the temple. Yuan almost seemed disappointed.

"Well, since you guys move so slow, we had destroyed them all. There isn't any more time to waste here, we need to move on to the next Seal," Yuan said walking towards the entrance. Lloyd twitched in anger.

"HEY! What the hell's wrong with you, we just finished this one, barely escaping with our lives, some of us even lost someone here, and you just say, "Let's go"? You stupid bastard," Lloyd called angrily after him, only to fall upon deaf ears. Lloyd muttered the many death threats he would be giving to Yuan later, his eyes faintly glowing white with the exesphere's power. Sheena placed her hand on Lloyd's shoulder.

"Lloyd...It's okay, I'll be fine," Sheena told him. Lloyd's gaze softened. He took a look at Botta to see if he could explain Yuan's attitude. He only shrugged in reply. Lloyd sighed and decided to drop it. The group walked outside of the temple and Yuan looked to te sky.

"Botta, I leave the Renegades in your capable hands," Yuan said. Botta nodded.

"Understood," Botta replied. With that, he flew off on a Rheiard towards their base. Lloyd silently wished it was Botta instead of Yuan coming with them. He put it aside, the worlds' safety came first, he could just kill Yuan later.

* * *

Later that night, Sasuke and Naruto started arguing about another of their stupid topics, Itachi and Yuan engaged in a weird conversation that they called a "disagreement", and Sheena sitting down just looking into the sky. Lloyd decided that he wasn't stupid enough to join Naruto and Sasuke's argument, smart enough for Itachi and Yuan's "disagreement", and just right to hang out with Sheena.

He walked up to Sheena and grinned when he sat down next to her. Sheena smiled lightly.

"Hey," she greeted.

"Hi," Lloyd replied. They sat in an awkward silence, both feeling sad about what happened earlier. Lloyd couldn't find anything to say, which was odd for him. Finally deciding to say something, he took a deep breath. "Sheena, I-," he was cut off when Sheena put a finger to his lips.

"Sorry, but I would like it quiet at the moment," she said. Lloyd nearly sighed in relief. He didn't really have much to say. They looked into the sky. Lloyd enjoyed the wind as it blew across his face. Being quiet had its quirks sometimes. Lloyd shook his head as he finally stood up and walked away. He turned and motioned for Sheena to follow him. Sheena raised an eye but stood up anyway and followed. They walked for a few moments before Lloyd suddenly turned and poked Sheena in the forehead.

"Tag, you're it!" He then ran off into some trees like a small child. Sheena twitched.

"What the?" She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to play around and get separated from everyone else. Sheena jumped after him. "Lloyd! We don't have time for this," Sheena called out. She didn't get any answer. She ran through the mass of trees a few times before stopping by a large tree. She sighed. "Come on Lloyd. Do you have to do this now," She asked. She walked towards a branch few feet above the ground. She was inches away from it when Lloyd appeared in front of her, hanging from it upside down. He was a few inches from her face. He poked her forehead again.

"Geez Sheena, you're pretty boring," Lloyd said. Sheena twitched.

"Well sorry for being boring.," Sheena replied curtly. Lloyd grinned before poking her forehead again. Sheena growled. "Stop that!" Lloyd's grin widened when he poked it again.

"Make me," he replied childishly. He poked a few more times before Sheena lunged at him. Lloyd broke free from her grasp and ran away. "Nya nya! Can't catch me," he yelled as he put distance between them.

"Come back here," Sheena yelled angrily. She gave him chase. Lloyd saw her coming and paled.

"Geez, you need anger management or something," Lloyd called. He ducked under a kunai knife thrown at him. "WHOA!"

"I'll show you anger management," she said holding two in both hands. Lloyd continued to run, dodging every kunai knife Sheena threw. This however slowed Lloyd down and Sheena caught up to him. She tackled him to the ground and they skidded along the ground, towards a steep hill. They rolled down it both screaming like crazy. Lloyd grunted as he hit a rock, since Sheena had tackled him, he was like he sled down the hill. They hit a bump in the hill and both began somersaulting.

They finally landed at the bottom of the hill. Lloyd was aching from the many bumps and rocks he hit. They both sat up and stared at each other before breaking out in uncontrollable laughter. Lloyd sides had started to ache so he stopped. He looked at Sheena and saw tears falling from her eyes as she laughed. Lloyd was confused. He didn't know it was possible to cry and laugh at the same time, unless if you laughed too hard, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"Are...you okay," he asked hesitantly. Sheena hugged Lloyd catching off guard. _"First she was sad, then angry, then happy, then sad again, then both sad and happy at the same time. Are all women this weird," _Lloyd wondered as he held the crying-laughing girl. Sheena stopped and broke out of Lloyd's embrace. She wiped her eyes and smiled.

"Thanks, I really needed that," she said. Lloyd raised an eye.

"Umm...sure?" Lloyd didn't really know what he did. He was really confused. Sheena giggled before poking Lloyd's forehead.

"You're it!" Then she ran off. Lloyd sat there confused before shaking his head.

"What the hell just happened," he wondered out loud, before chasing off after Sheena.

* * *

**That's the end of this one. I was in a pretty good mood today, and also, I couldn't have this chapter too depressing, could I? Nah, **_**I revel in the misery of others...**_**Well, I guess I'll you guys later! Make sure to tell me you opinions on Naruto, thanks to Nightmare Syndrome, I have the right weapon in mind! The only problem is...What the hell is the name of the knuckle knife thingies that Asuma used? Later!**


	16. The Imprisoned Soul

**Hey what's up? Thanks to the help of the reviewers, I've decided that Naruto will use Trench Knives (The weapons that Asuma uses). Right now they are forming pacts with the Summon Spirits of Tethe'alla. Meanwhile, a dark power is rising within Lloyd. Can he stop it before it's too late?**

**Another thing that has been brought to my attention. Some of you are confused as to why Sasuke called out Raikiri instead of Chidori. The answer is simple. Kakashi's only original technique was in fact called the Chidori. It earned it's title Raikiri when he charged more power into it and sliced a lightning bolt in half, hence Raikiri. Since Sasuke sliced the Thunder Blade spell in half, his Chidori has earned the title Raikiri as well.**

**I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy VII, Naruto, and Devil May Cry.**

* * *

"_**One day you have to choose. Your greed for the exesphere's power has tainted your soul with darkness. You cherish that power, grow angry when it is threatened. We both know that you don't just keep it because it was your mother's life. Think about it, what would you do without that power? You would crave it, maybe even go insane without it," **__Dark explained causing Lloyd to grit his teeth._

"_How would you know? You have no idea what the hell you're talking about! You don't know anything about me," Lloyd yelled drawing his swords. Dark cackled before drawing out his own._

"_**You're not very bright if you can't tell what I am yet. The light continues to blind you," **__Dark told him now grinning._

"_SHUT UP!" Lloyd charged at his dark counterpart with fury and swung his sword. Dark merely raised his and blocked the blow._

"_**Is this how you react? Soon, you'll be giving in to your hatred. Then you'll be tossing your so called friends aside for the power you seek. Even I, in all, am not dark enough to do that," **__Dark taunted. Lloyd glared into Dark's eyes and smirked._

"_Of course, but there's only one problem with that statement. It's not like you had friends in the first place," Lloyd retorted. Dark laughed._

"_**As stupid as you are, you got me there Lloyd. There's no denying that. I'll make you a deal. Being the epitome of your darkness, a have received a trait from you. Generosity...I'll allow you to make the choice. I won't try to manipulate you either. It's your choice. You can choose to use the exesphere, unlocking more power. Or you can choose to forget this whole ordeal, only using it's power when you absolutely have to, to protect your friends. The choice is yours and yours alone. Choose wisely," **__Dark said, his body fading away. Lloyd looked into the air._

"_You act like that's a hard choice to make," Lloyd called out._

"_**You would be surprised Lloyd," **__Dark replied._

"_Know what? I won't even use the damn thing," Lloyd exclaimed removing the exesphere. Then it glowed a bright white and Lloyd felt it's power disappear from his body. Unbeknownst to Lloyd, he started grinning with a dark look of greed etched across his features. "Well, maybe a little..."_

* * *

Sheena awoke with a depressed look on her face. "So much for sleeping..." She had only slept for three hours the night before. She stretched her arms before standing up, she was getting used to sleeping outside without a tent or a sleeping bag. She awoke to see Naruto and Sasuke snoring, apparently, it looked like a contest to see who could snore louder. She shook her head and looked around. Itachi was on top of a hill looking in the direction of the Earth Temple, their destination for the next Summon Spirit. She didn't see Lloyd or Yuan anywhere. She decided to see if Itachi knew anything and walked up to him.

"Where's Lloyd," she asked him. Itachi smirked.

"He left early this mourning to help Presea. He should be back soon, we might have someone else helping as well," Itachi said, pushing his fingers through his hair. "Sheena, are you able to continue making the pacts? If not, we understand. Corrine was your first friend. I'm sorry that happened." Sheena smiled lightly.

"Thanks. I'm going to continue to make the pacts. I have to save the worlds. If I don't, then everything Corrine died for will have been a waste. I'm going to keep going," Sheena replied. Itachi nodded.

"Sheena, what about Lloyd," Itachi asked. Sheena raised an eye.

"What about him," she asked curiously. Itachi looked at her and gave her a taunting smirk.

"You know what I mean. I don't even need the Sharingan to see how you feel. You fell for him, didn't you," Itachi stated rather than asked. Sheena twitched before turning he face away.

"Wh-what are you talking about? I don't fell anything for him," Sheena replied suddenly as if she was defending herself. Itachi's smirk grew.

"Is it customary for people to deny what they feel when they love someone," Itachi asked striking a nerve within Sheena. Sheena shook her head before walking away. Itachi shook his head as well. "Seems like I struck a nerve. I might be wrong..." Meanwhile, Sheena had Lloyd on her mind.

"_I don't like him. Sure he's nice, caring, kind, idealistic, strong, cute..." _She almost smiled before shaking her head furiously. _"But he's also stupid, he can be inconsiderate_ _sometimes...I'm lying when I say that...He understood me...Was there for me when I needed him...But he's still a stupid idiot...He doesn't mean to be one though, besides, it's kind of cute...What am I thinking," _Sheena thought now confusing herself. She didn't think about this before. She detested Itachi for putting these thoughts in her head. _"Why am I even thinking about this? There's more important things going on, Corrine just died a few days ago, there's more pacts to make, I can't think like this." _Sheena was separated from her thoughts when she bumped into Yuan who stared at her with a raised eye.

"Do you usually forget to watch where you're walking," he asked rudely. Sheena gave a light smile.

"Sorry, I just had something on my mind," Sheena replied. Yuan shook his head.

"Well, I came to inform you, as soon as Lloyd returns, we're leaving for the next seal, we don' have time to waste," he said before walking around Sheena. He stopped when he was back to back with her. "By the way Sheena, you need to get your mind out of the gutter. There are far stronger Summon Spirits than Volt," Yuan told her before walking off again. Sheena looked at the ground. Her smile faded.

"Hey asshole! I don't know who you think you are but if she's the one who's going to make the pacts, then couldn't you stand to be nicer," Naruto yelled, making everyone fully aware that he was awake. Yuan smirked.

"I was only stating the truth," he replied cooly. Naruto growled.

"That's it! I'm kicking your ass," Naruto exclaimed charging at Yuan. Before he reached him, Sheena stopped him with an outstretched arm.

"That's enough. There's more important things to do right now," Sheena said monotonously. Naruto growled. Sasuke shook his head, awakened by Naruto's outburst.

"She's right. There's more pacts to make. You guys can kick each other's ass later," Sasuke said. Itachi nodded in agreement. Naruto sighed.

"Fine, whatever. I'll just sit over here then," Naruto said walking away from the group. Sheena looked into the sky.

"_Lloyd..."_

* * *

Lloyd arrived in Ozette on his Rheiard. He jumped off before putting it in his wing-pack. He looked at the village and sighed. He walked through it and down a long hill. He saw a house at the bottom of it. He continued walk down it, despite all the stares he was receiving. They probably didn't like Presea either. He arrived and quickly hid behind a bush. He saw Presea and the Desian they fought, Rodyle.

"So that's what happened to my clone, I forget to install my latest memories into it, he shouldn't of attacked Lloyd. Now it only made things more difficult. Well, no matter. Now I have to speak with Lord Yggdrasill. I will take my leave. You know what to do Presea," Rodyle said. Presea nodded.

"Understood master. I will capture Lloyd Irving," Presea replied. Lloyd cursed. Saving her would be a lot harder than he thought. Rodyle disappeared, it was only a projection speaking in his place. Lloyd leapt out of the bushes. He swung his hand towards the back of her neck. His eyes widened when Presea caught his arm and stopped him with ease. Lloyd cursed remembering her physical strength. He flipped out of her grasp.

"Presea! You don't have to listen to him, I'm here to save you," Lloyd called to her.

"I'm sorry, you need to come with me," Presea said with no traces of emotion. Lloyd cursed. She held her axe in her hands. Lloyd looked into her eyes, seeing her suffering, the pain of being controlled. Lloyd knew he couldn't bring himself to kill her. Lloyd twitched when the look in her eyes disappeared. He knew he had to save her. He ran towards her. "Infliction!" Lloyd was hit into the air. He landed on the ground.

"Damn it!"

"_**What's the matter Lloyd? Can't handle something this simple? You know what she's growing in her body? Another exesphere, except this one's special. It's just like yours. If you kill her, imagine all the power you could have," **_a voice told him in his head. Lloyd recognized it immediately.

"_Shut up! How could you even think of doing that. Did you see her eyes? Her suffering," _Lloyd replied.

"_**You can end that suffering if you wanted to. All you need to do is kill her," **_Dark told him. Lloyd shook his head as he avoided a blow from Presea's axe.

"_I said, SHUT THE HELL UP!" _Lloyd pulled out the Key Crest he received. He rushed towards her and reached for her hand.

"Beast!" Presea slammed her axe into Lloyd hard, launching him away. He landed on the ground with a thud. Lloyd couldn't move. Blood ran down his face and soaked the ground beneath him. He finally gathered himself enough to stand up. He gave her a light smile. Presea shook her head. "Why is it that you're defying logic? You have a thirty percent chance of planting that Key Crest on me, the other seventy ends in failure. Why do you continue to try," Presea asked. Lloyd grinned.

"Because, sometimes, you have to go against the odds, I would do anything for my friends. I'll save you, even if you kill me while I do it," Lloyd replied. Presea shook her head.

"That is illogical. The majority of people would flee at this hopelessness," Presea said. Lloyd grinned.

"Well, if it helps, I'm pretty stupid," Lloyd commented. Presea shook her head again for the third time. "I noticed something, you like shaking your head a lot." He grabbed the Key Crest and charged mana in his feet. "Demonic Rush!" He sped towards her at an insane speed, side-stepping a well timed swing of Presea's axe. He grabbed both of her arms and pushed her against the wall of her house. He took one of her hands and forcefully put the Key Crest on her exesphere. He grinned when Presea's eyes changed again. However, he didn't anticipate what would happen next. Presea, was fuzzy from what happened and saw Lloyd pinning her against the wall. She screamed before kicking Lloyd where the sun doesn't shine. Lloyd cried out in pain letting go of her and crouching down. Presea ran into her house, screaming once again at what she saw.

* * *

_An hour later..._

"Thank you for helping me bury my daddy...and I'm sorry for how I reacted," Presea said causing Lloyd to twitch.

"Don't mention it. Just promise you won't do it again," Lloyd said, he was still in a lot of pain. Presea sighed.

"I don't have anywhere to go now...is it alright if I come along with you and help with the pacts," Presea asked. Lloyd grinned.

"Sure thing! As long as you don't kick anyone else, I'm sure you'll fit in...Well, you could kick Yuan, goddess knows he needs it," Lloyd said. Presea raised an eye.

"I'm confused to as what you mean," she replied. Lloyd laughed.

"It's nothing important. Anyway, you ready to go,"Lloyd asked her. Presea nodded to Lloyd's amusement. "See, that looks a lot different from shaking your head all the time. Let's go. The others are probably worried about me," Lloyd said.

"Shouldn't we tend to your wounds before we go," Presea asked. Lloyd gave a long thought about her question.

"Nah, I could apply some gels and it'll be all good," Lloyd replied. They hopped on the Rheiard and took off to the Temple of Lightning.

* * *

Arriving less than a few minutes later, he landed next to the hill Itachi stood on. He saw Itachi smirking. Lloyd raised an eye at the normally emotionless Itachi, "What are you smiling about," Lloyd asked him. Lloyd and Presea jumped off the Rheiard and put it in the wing pack.

"Oh it's nothing. We'll be heading to the Earth Temple soon. You should get ready," Itachi told him. Lloyd sighed.

"Already? But we have a whole two and a half years to do theses pacts. Is this Yuan's idea," Lloyd asked. Itachi did not reply. "I thought as much. That asshole is a slave-driver," Lloyd commented. He saw everyone else and grinned. "Well, what are we sitting around for, we got crap to do! So let's do it," Lloyd exclaimed enthusiastically. Sheena sighed.

"How long are you going to maintain that enthusiasm," She asked him. Lloyd grinned sheepishly in reply.

* * *

**That's the end of this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed. The next chapter will be the Earth Temple. Later!**


	17. Earth Seal

**Hey, this is my next chapter, sorry the last one was so short, to make up for it, I've decided to update the next day. For those of you who are wondering about Lloyd's conversations with Dark at the beginning of each chapter, don't worry about them. Those flashes happen in the future. They are merely foreshadows of what will happen. Speaking of which, Infinite Freedom gave me an awesome idea! I thank you and you'll all surely see what I mean later. Anyway, I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy VII, Naruto, and Devil May Cry.**

* * *

"_**Look at your existence Lloyd. The very reasons you truly exist surround you, don't they? Haven't you ever wondered why you cherish them," **__Dark asked Lloyd. Lloyd turned to Dark with a surprised look._

"_Isn't it obvious? They help me whenever I need it. They were there when nobody else was. They mean everything to me," Lloyd answered serenely. Dark grinned._

"_**Then you would do anything to protect them. Tell me Lloyd, you need power in order to protect, right? If you didn't have power...then you would be the one who needed protecting. Correct," **__Dark asked him. Lloyd thought about it._

"_I guess I would," Lloyd replied. "But you can't make your whole life revolve around that power or else you'd forget what you're protecting," Lloyd countered. Dark laughed._

"_**Nobody is saying that you should forget what you're protecting. By gaining more power, you'll have the ability to protect them from anything," **__Dark said putting his arm over Lloyd's shoulder. Lloyd removed Dark's arm from his shoulder._

"_But by doing that, then I'll want to keep it, what would happen should I lose that power you promise," Lloyd asked._

"_**Become powerful enough to never lose it," **__Dark answered skillfully avoiding the answer._

"_But if I do lose it, then I'd go insane, then do anything to get it back, that's the price of being greedy. Dwarven Vow Number Twenty One: Greed is for the weak of mind," Lloyd countered. Dark growled. "So, I don't need the power you offer."_

"_**Do you have any idea of what you're passing up? Do you know what you're throwing away? This is the opportunity of a millennium. No other opportunity like this will ever come again. Think about what you're doing,"**__ Dark told him._

_Lloyd smiled at him. "Thanks but, no thanks. I'll be fine without it," Lloyd said before turning away. Dark grew angry._

"_**Hey! I won't let you ruin this for the both of us! Get back here Lloyd!" **__But it was a upon deaf ears. Lloyd would no longer listen. He no longer needed to. __**"Fine then Lloyd...I know you can still hear me. You'll regret this...Oh you'll regret this..."**_

* * *

"Everyone, we'll be stopping here," Itachi stated randomly as they were about to walk into the Earth Temple. Yuan scowled.

"Whatever, I'll meet you at the seal," Yuan said before walking off.

"While you're at it, remove that stick from your ass," Lloyd and Naruto muttered. Sheena grinned as she heard this.

"We're going to find out what element your mana is attune to. I assume you've already undergone this training Sheena," Itachi stated. Sheena nodded.

"I don't have an element affinity. I guess that's why pact-making would go well with me," Sheena told them. "I could just use the Summon Spirit's mana when I use my attacks."

"In that case, Lloyd, Naruto, and Sasuke. I want each of you to take a piece of paper and charge mana into it. The paper should do five things. Depending on what happens, I can tell you your element," Itachi explained handing each of them a piece of paper. Lloyd shrugged before charging mana into his. It crumpled up before the remains sliced right in half. He raised an eye.

"So what element am I?" Itachi smirked.

"Well aren't you interesting? You have two elements awakened. You have Lightning and Wind elements. While I don't know any wind or lightning jutsu, I do have some artes that would suit you since you wield swords," Itachi said handing Lloyd a list of artes.

"Hmm...Hurricane Thrust, Severing Wind, Lightning Blade, and Thunder Beast are the basic ones here. More complex moves are Cyclone Thrust and Super Lightning Blade. Wow! These all look really cool," Lloyd exclaimed. He eagerly wanted to train now. Naruto grinned.

"Let me see what mine is," Naruto exclaimed charging mana into his. His sliced in half. Naruto wondered if he was wind or lightning.

"Wind huh, I would give you some artes or jutsu but...I really don't have any, you should talk to Asuma," Itachi explained. "Lloyd, you should see him and Kakashi when you have free time. Now you Sasuke."

Sasuke sighed before charging mana into his. It crumpled and then the remains burned to ashes. "Lightning and Fire," Sasuke commented. Itachi nodded.

"You have one more element than me little brother," Itachi commented as he handed Sasuke a list of artes. He didn't bother reading them out like Lloyd did. Naruto was fuming. He didn't have a weapon like Lloyd or Sasuke, so he couldn't learn artes like they could. Plus Itachi didn't know a single wind jutsu. Naruto couldn't help but feel left out. Lloyd sighed when he saw Naruto's predicament.

"Hey, I have these awesome artes that I use when I don't have my swords. They're really easy to learn too. I could teach you," Lloyd told him. Naruto grinned.

"Alright," Naruto yelled. Lloyd grinned. He'd have to teach the artes he invented to Naruto. Usually, the thought wouldn't even cross his mind but, it did seem unfair that he and Sasuke were the only ones doing the elemental training.

"The really cool thing is, it doesn't really matter how much mana you put into them as long as you don't go overboard, like using all of it at once. Let me demonstrate my first original techniques," Lloyd charged mana into his forearm and then swung at the cliff next to him causing a huge crater. He grinned satisfied with his work. "That was Impact. All you have to do is charge mana into the arm you swing with, then let it all go when you attack. It's really easy," Lloyd explained. Lloyd charged twice as much mana into his arm. "The more mana you use," Lloyd said swinging his fist. A much larger crater appeared when Lloyd made contact with it. "The more power it has," Lloyd finished. Naruto grinned.

"That's seems pretty easy," Naruto commented. Lloyd grinned.

"You bet, it's so easy, 'Even an idiot could do it'," Lloyd said mimicking Sheena's voice. Naruto caught on and laughed. "The next won't is still extremely easy, but takes a little bit more control," Lloyd explained. He charged mana throughout his whole arm and raised it into an uppercut. "Demon Fist!" A shockwave erupted through his forearm and slid along the ground before dissipating. "I based this one solely on Demon Fang except that you don't need a sword to do it. There's probably similar techniques but this one's mine. I usually wouldn't share these with anybody but you're a good friend so I won't regret it," Lloyd said. Naruto smiled.

"Thanks. I'll make sure you won't regret this," Naruto said. Lloyd grinned.

"I know. Anyway, here's the manual for the other artes including Guardian. I suggest you learn that one first," Lloyd said. Naruto nodded eagerly and they all trained throughout the whole Earth Temple. Any poor monsters that wondered by were test subject to their new training. Lloyd almost thought he saw a gargoyle cry due to the torture. With the exception of Naruto, they weren't getting anywhere. Lloyd couldn't fully control either element without hurting himself while Sasuke could only call upon his when he used jutsu he already knew. Using the new artes were out of the question for both of them. The decided upon elemental training instead of trying to use the artes. Every now and then, Lloyd would notice that he gave one of the monsters a sudden jolt of electricity when he attacked them. Sasuke would sometimes cause second-degree burns. Either way, it wasn't helping a lot that their foes were earth creatures. Lightning had almost no effect on them as opposed to fire and wind. When Lloyd attacked one monster that almost killed him, he realized something.

"_That's it! Lightning attacks require speed and timing, the mana is already attune. I'm not going fast enough!" _With this thought he walked up to a random stone. With speed unseen by the normal eye, he charged mana into his blade and thrust his sword into it. To his surprise, lightning struck it from the sky. He grinned as the stone shattered in front of him. "Well that was easy," Lloyd said half-heartedly. Sasuke growled.

"How did you do that," he demanded. Lloyd sighed.

"I was going to tell you, but since you want to be such an ass about it, you can find out on your own. Shouldn't be too hard for an 'Uchiha'. Right," Lloyd said emphasizing Uchiha. Naruto held in some laughter and Itachi sighed. Sasuke always got like this when someone did better than he did. He wasn't surprised. He heard from Sheena how fast Lloyd could catch on to things. Lloyd thought about Thunder Beast. He knew speed wasn't the issue there, since it was designed for power, so he didn't have the lightning element completely mastered. But he took a big step so he was proud.

They saw little gnomelettes blocking the path wherever they went so they skillfully avoided them by walking on the walls. Lloyd figured they wanted something but he didn't want to deal with it. He had more important things to do. He turn to see Sasuke still struggling with his elements and grinned. He heard Naruto rant on and on about somebody finally knocking Sasuke off his high and mighty chair. Sasuke scoffed at this and stated that Naruto couldn't do any better and another of their pointless arguments ensured. Lloyd sighed. He would teach Sasuke when Sasuke learned what he did wrong in asking. Besides, Sasuke knew the Chidori so the concept should of been way too easy for him...yet it wasn't. So Lloyd decided to focus on the seal and Sheena. He was worried (that much was obvious) but Sheena seemed a little more confident than with Volt, but it still wasn't the boost she needed. Lloyd walked up next to her.

"You know, I'd bet a lot of money that this one's a joke compared to Volt," Lloyd said trying to reassure her. It didn't work.

"And how exactly would you know," Sheena asked. Lloyd grinned.

"Because of a feeling in my gut. Trust me on this one. Besides, this place is boring now. I'm lucky Itachi gave me artes to work on," Lloyd remarked. Sheena laughed in disbelief.

"Unbelievable. You're already bored? It's only been half an hour," Sheena exclaimed. Lloyd sighed.

"Whatever," Lloyd replied. "The reason I'm bored is that there's nothing but rocks, rocks, and more rocks to look at. Seriously," Lloyd complained.

"Now that you say that...I'm bored too. Damn you, your boredom must be contagious or something," Sheena said scowling. Lloyd laughed.

"Oh come on, I'm not that bad...Okay, I admit this only because you're a good friend. I guess I do get bored pretty easily," Lloyd said quietly. Sheena smiled.

"There, now was that so hard," Sheena asked him. Lloyd stared at her incredulously.

"Are you kidding? Hell yes," Lloyd replied quickly. They eventually stopped talking because Itachi smirked at them. Lloyd was confused by the look Itachi had on his face. Sheena was mouthing death threats to Itachi that he ignored with his taunting smile. Sheena growled. Lloyd looked at her confused. "Did something happen," Lloyd asked curiously.

"No Lloyd, nothing happened...And nothing ever will," Sheena replied coldly. Lloyd shrugged. Though Sheena tried to ignore it, the words she spoke actually hurt her a bit. She sighed. _"Well, maybe I'm lying to myself...Maybe Itachi's right...Damn! Why the hell am I thinking about this crap!" _The rest of the trip to the seal. Sheena was silently scowling while her face was red from weird embarrassment. Lloyd sighed wondering why people were so confusing. First Sheena had these mood changes, then emotionless Itachi couldn't stop smiling at them. It was creeping him the hell out.

"_Damn, why is everyone so freaking weird, confusing, or creepy," _Lloyd wondered as Naruto and Sasuke stopped their fighting. _"Million Dollars says that Naruto starts stuttering shyly and Sasuke takes that stick that's shoved up his ass and burn it."_

* * *

They arrived at the seal to see an irritated Yuan waiting for them. Lloyd could already imagine what Yuan would say in his head. _"What the hell took you so long?"_

"What the hell took you so long," Yuan asked clearly impatient. Lloyd grinned. He hit that one right on the dot.

"_Maybe Yuan might take the stick in his ass and remove it as well...Then again, I highly doubt it..."_

"Sorry, but we wanted to be prepared for this one. While you may not seem to care much, we don't want any more casualties," Itachi answered showing more signs of irritation than Yuan. Lloyd sighed.

"Look, can't we argue about this later? Let's get this over with," Lloyd said. Sheena sighed before walking up to the seal. The earth around it started to raise forming pillars, in the midst of it all, was a giant brown mole wearing a red ribbon. Lloyd mouth twitched to the side as he tried to hold in his laughter. Naruto could be seen doing the same.

"Bleh, who are you guys, can't you see it's four in the mourning," the mole complained.

"You mean four in the afternoon," Lloyd corrected him. The mole scowled.

"Whatever, who cares anyway, I just wanna sleep," the mole continued to complained. He looked at the group and sighed when he saw Yuan. "I didn't expect you to be here, is that stick shoved so far up your-," the mole started.

"That's not important right now," Sheena exclaimed. Yuan sighed.

"I apologize but Gnome's always been this annoying," Yuan explained. Lloyd and Naruto couldn't hold their laughter anymore as they fell to their knees.

"That's the Summon Spirit! What a joke," Naruto exclaimed. He was instantly shut up with a shovel that seemingly appeared out of nowhere to his face. Poor Naruto never knew what hit him when he fell unconscious.

"Anyone else think I'm funny," Gnome asked in a dark tone. Lloyd decided to keep quiet, and pretended he was laughing at Naruto. "Anyway, let's see, I bet you're here for a pact. Well, bad news, I already got one," Gnome said. Sheena shook her head.

"Can't you cancel it," Sheena asked nicely. Gnome smirked.

"Well, I usually don't do this, but for a cute girl such as yourself, why not! Anyway, as I Summon Spirit, I refuse to take on more than four of you, but it would be really cool if you guys could be more fair like Mithos. You see, he fought me by himself," Gnome explained. Lloyd sighed.

"Does it have to be Sheena," Lloyd asked curiously.

"Well, duh, she's making the pact," Gnome replied like Lloyd was stupid. Lloyd fumed at this.

"You guys aren't counting me out of the fight. I'm kicking your ass," Lloyd exclaimed. Everyone almost laughed at Lloyd's predictable reaction.

"Naruto's unconscious so I'll fight," Sasuke said cooly. Itachi and Yuan looked to each other.

"You do realize that there's only one intelligent way to solve this," Itachi said.

"I agree," Yuan replied. Five seconds of intense staring...

"ROCK PAPER SCISSORS!" Itachi had rock and Yuan had scissors. Yuan scowled. Sheena stared at them in disbelief.

"That's your intelligent way of solving things," Sheena asked incredulously.

"Yeah, but for some reason, that bastard always wins, I'll get you yet," Yuan said determined. Itachi smirked. Lloyd faked a cough to get everyone's attention on Gnome.

"So you guys ready yet, I could be sleeping ya know," Gnome said.

Lloyd unsheathed his swords and rushed towards Gnome. He jumped into the air before slamming his blade into Gnome when he landed. Gnome retaliated with a swing of his shovel that knocked Lloyd a few feet back. Gnome turned to see two large fireballs flying towards him. He raised the earth before him to defend himself. He then started casting.

"Ready? Ground Dasher!" Sasuke and Itachi saw the earth split beneath them and jumped away before it shook furiously. Sasuke pulled out his katana and ran towards his enemy.

"Fang Blade!" Gnome however at inhumane speeds dug into the earth beneath and hid. Sasuke scowled. "Coward," he called out. The earth crumpled beneath him as Gnome jumped out shovel ready to strike. Sasuke blocked with his blade. Itachi hand signs.

"Water Style: Water Vortex Jutsu!" A huge typhoon of water shot at Volt and blasted him into the walls of the cliff. Gnome grit his teeth. He could only watch as Sheena was about to plant a card on him. He sighed knowing he'd regret this later.

"Alright! You guys win! Sheesh, do I have to spell it out for you," Gnome exclaimed. Lloyd nearly fell over.

"What? Are you serious," Lloyd asked incredulously. Gnome nodded. Sheena sighed.

"For the sake of everyone who risked their lives for me, gimme your power," Sheena retorted. Gnome scowled.

"Whatever, I'll lend my power to you guys," Gnome replied as he faded into mana and floated into Sheena.

"That had to be the worst journey I've ever been on, or ever will go on," Lloyd said. Naruto still hadn't awoken from his slumber. "Man, we really need a healer for crap like this," Lloyd commented. He sighed. "What now?"

"We'll wait a month before the Ice Temple," Yuan answered. He just walked off. Lloyd sighed.

"He didn't do anything besides complain, we really don't need him to help," Lloyd said as soon as Yuan was out of ear-shot. Suddenly, he felt something weird in his gut, a bad feeling. He looked around and sighed. When Naruto awoke, they walked out of the temple. At the entrance, they saw someone Lloyd and Sheena hadn't seen in awhile.

"Cloud?" Sure enough, the dark clothed, blue eyed blonde was standing in front of them, aiming a murderous glare at Lloyd.

* * *

**Hey, since I decided to cut the fight with Gnome so short, I've decided to make the next advance on the plot. I think you all will enjoy the next chapter more. We all probably notice the general opinion of Yuan here is pretty much the same with anyone who's met him. Later!**


	18. Crusader of the Darkness

**I wanted to update twice today! (Go me!) I decided that it's time to have a lot of fun with this and introduce our first major villain...Cloud? Well, I guess you'll all see. Have fun reading!**

Lloyd could only wonder why Cloud stared at him with the intent of killing him. He unconsciously took two steps back and laughed nervously.

"Hey...Any reason you're staring at me like that," Lloyd asked. Cloud blinked in confusion as he stared at Lloyd. His glare was reduced and he sighed.

"Damn, I was wrong," Cloud muttered. Lloyd raised an eye.

"About what," he asked curiously.

"None of your business," Cloud replied quietly. Lloyd shook his head.

"You just looked at me like you wanted to kill me! Like hell it's not my business," Lloyd retorted. Cloud took another look at Lloyd before shaking his head.

"I mistook you for someone else. There's darkness growing in you," Cloud told him. Lloyd looked at hm curiously.

"Darkness is growing inside me? What do you mean," Lloyd asked curiously. He heard laughter inside of him.

"_**What, you ever wondered why I decided to call myself 'Dark'? Man you're pretty slow," **_Dark told Lloyd. Lloyd sighed.

"Never mind, I see what you mean...Annoying ass bastard," Lloyd muttered. Cloud shook his head.

"You need to get rid of him. He'll only cause problems later," Cloud told Lloyd. "If you continue to hear him, you'll eventually give in," Cloud warned. Lloyd nodded. A second later, Lloyd had that bad feeling again. Cloud's eyes widened. "Did you feel that?"

"Yeah, I felt it earlier," Lloyd replied immediately. They both searched around before Lloyd saw something, high on top of one of the cliffs. He stared at it before his eyes widened.

"What the..." What he saw was a man with long silver hair staring back at him, with a insanely long sword ready to strike. When Lloyd looked into his eyes, he could only feel fear and hopelessness. He fell to his knees staring at the warrior, as he smirked back. Then, almost as if reality was being twisted around him, Cloud and everyone else disappeared, along with the temple around him, soon nothing but Lloyd and the man before him existed. The man walked towards Lloyd, who felt too much fear to even move. The smirking man stood a few feet in front of him.

"So, you're the source of the darkness I felt," the man said. Lloyd finally gathered himself enough to stand.

"Who are you," Lloyd wasted no time with asking this question. The man's smirk widened as he gave a slight bow.

"I am Sephiroth. The angel that has come to purge you from the darkness," the man introduced as his eyes met Lloyd's. All Lloyd could see was limitless hatred, enough hatred to scare him beyond coherent thoughts. "You're scared. Soon I will put you out of your hopeless misery." Lloyd took a step back. "I can't believe that the darkness could choose such weaklings sometimes, but I suppose it matters not. Soon, you shall be purged, your blood soaking the very soil of this broken planet. And the saddest thing is, there's nothing you can do about it," Sephiroth told him.

"_**But I can," **_another voice replied. Dark appeared next to Lloyd. Sephiroth shook his head.

"So you're the embodiment of his darkness," Sephiroth stated. Dark grinned.

"_**The one and only. You see, while I could care less if you kill the idiot here, I still have other plans. Allow me to warn you. If you don't remove yourself from my presence within the next five minutes, then I'm going to kill you nice and slow...In other terms, fuck off," **_Dark said growling. Sephiroth shook his head.

"That I cannot do. You see, this power, this darkness is the reason I came to this miserable excuse of a planet," Sephiroth said. Lloyd twitched.

"Excuse me," Lloyd asked angrily.

"This planet was split in two by a power monger that had lost his former source of power. It's now just a struggling a pair of rocks struggling to survive," Sephiroth insulted. Lloyd growled.

"Just because some idiot was selfish enough to destroy this planet, DOES NOT IN ANY HELL GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO INSULT IT," Lloyd yelled accusingly at Sephiroth.

"_**While I hate the idiot, he's right. There's no way in hell you can get away with insulting my new throne," **_Dark agreed with Lloyd. They both drew their swords and glared at Sephiroth. He gave them a calm smirk.

"So, you both think that you can defeat me? How odd, the light and the dark combining their powers, in order to defeat more darkness," Sephiroth commented. He raised his hand into the air and the once blank sky of nothingness filled with dark clouds that threatened to engulf them. "Very well, then allow me show you the true power of the dark."

Lloyd and Dark charged at Sephiroth. Lloyd stopped and launched a shockwave that slid alongside Dark. Dark smirked and ran his blade through it, tripling it's speed. Sephiroth simply jumped over it gracefully and landed behind Lloyd. He raised Masamune and blocked an onslaught of strikes Lloyd sent at him. Dark faded away and reappeared behind Sephiroth and they attacked his from both sides. Yet, somehow, Sephiroth quickly blocked strikes from four swords flying at him. Lloyd was almost baffled by Sephiroth's speed before charging mana through his body tripling his own. Dark had done the same, and soon they were striking Sephiroth too fast to be seen by any eye, Sharingan or not. But Sephiroth replied with even more speed as he continued to block the strikes. Lloyd and Dark jumped back.

"Damn, how the hell is he so fast," Lloyd wondered. He charged mana into his sword.

"_**I don't know, but we need to figure out something before this get's dragged out," **_Dark replied. Sephiroth stood still, an eerily calm smirk still plastered on his face. Lloyd charged at Sephiroth and tried to thrust his blade into him. Sephiroth sidestepped before planting his foot into Lloyd's face. Lloyd flew back a few feet before landing on his hands and sliding along the ground.

"Damn it," he cursed. Dark sighed.

"_**We can't rush in anymore, he's too fast. I have an idea, but if we do this, then we need to finish this fast. I'd rather not use it so we fight him a bit longer and see what happens," **_Dark said. Lloyd nodded. They both charged an abhorrent amount of mana into their blades.

"Alright you bastard! Let's see you block this," Lloyd exclaimed.

"**DEMON FANG OVERLIMIT!" **Lloyd and Dark launched two giant shockwaves at Sephiroth. The destruction engulfed Sephiroth and destroyed what was in front of them before it dissipated. When it did, all that was left were black feathers. Lloyd looked on curiously.

"Did we get him," Lloyd asked. Dark scowled.

"_**Damn it, he created a corridor of darkness," **_Dark told him. Lloyd raised an eye in confusion.

"And that means," Lloyd asked.

"_**He teleported out of the way, stay here and be on your guard," **_Dark told him before fading away into the darkness. Lloyd saw Dark knocked onto his back in front of him along with Sephiroth standing in a group a falling feathers. Dark sat up and grit his teeth. _**"Damn it, somehow he kicked me out, I can't teleport anymore," **_Dark said. Sephiroth stood once more with his eerily calm smirk.

"Is that all you can do? I'm disappointed," Sephiroth said boredom evident in his calm voice. Lloyd growled.

"Shut up! That was only round one! Now it's time for round two," Lloyd said. He let out the power of the exesphere and the white aura surrounded him. **"Prepare for a real ass-kicking!" **Lloyd's eyes turned into a bright white and he charged at Sephiroth faster than he ever did before and pulled his blade back. **"Lightning Blade!" **Lloyd thrust the blade into Sephiroth's stomach and lightning struck him. Sephiroth jumped back as he pulled the blade out of himself. He threw at Lloyd, aimed for his head. Lloyd surprised Sephiroth when he ducked under the blade and grabbed it. Afterwards, he swung shockwave after shockwave after Sephiroth who ran around them. Sephiroth continued to run around the shockwaves until he reached Lloyd. Lloyd smirked before disappearing. Sephiroth's eyes widened.

"_He wasn't teleporting, that was speed...So, you're an interesting opponent after all," _Sephiroth thought. With speed faster than lightning, Lloyd appeared underneath Sephiroth and kicked him into the air. Lloyd stood and the ground and sheathed his swords. He jumped back and gave all of his mana into his final attack.

"**Source of all limitless power, bring forth the blade that protects, the blade that can destroy all...BLADE OF INFINITY!" **Lloyd screamed as a large blade made of pure mana formed through his hands. The blade was three times his size and glowed a magnificent white as Lloyd swung. **"LET'S FINISH THIS," **Lloyd screamed out as he jumped after Sephiroth. He swung it at Sephiroth with all his power. His eyes widened when he looked into Sephiroth's eyes. A dark blue aura flowed from Sephiroth as he held Masamune in front of Lloyd's blade of pure mana. Lloyd growled before jumping back. **"DIE!!" **Lloyd let out a burst of mana and shot a beam of it at Sephiroth Sephiroth had no time to react as the mana. engulfed him. When it faded, Sephiroth was on one knee panting heavily. Lloyd started panting for air as well. He ran out of mana with his final attack. Dark stared at the two in amazement before grinning.

"_**Well, looks we don't need the plan after all, not bad idiot," **_Dark said. Lloyd replied by showing him the middle finger. Sephiroth smirked once more as he stood up. Dark jumped back in surprise! **_"No way in hell you survived that! What the hell are you," _**Dark asked loosing his victory composure.

"I must admit you're very skilled, but apparently, you lack the power to defeat me. Do you have anything else to throw at me," Sephiroth asked calmly. He showed no signs of fatigue. Lloyd growled.

"Damn, I can't fight any longer, I'm done," Lloyd said warning Dark. Dark shook his head before smirking anyway.

"_**Not yet you're not, I need you for a just a minute," **_Dark said walking up to Lloyd. He placed a hand on Lloyd. _**"This will not only completely refill you're energy, but give you mine. Aren't I awesome," **_Dark commented. Lloyd scowled. Sephiroth stared at the pair of light and dark. Dark close his eyes before fading into Lloyd. Lloyd held his side. **_"Sorry Lloyd, I didn't want to do this."_**

"D-damn! What the hell are you doing! It-it hurts like hell," Lloyd exclaimed in intense pain. "M-make it stop! Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!" Lloyd screamed out, the white aura turning into a light gold and black. He continued to scream as he floated into the air. Sephiroth took a step back in defense.

"Are they combining," Sephiroth asked, now curious. Lloyd let out a final scream before the mana around him let out a blinding light. When the light faded, Lloyd was standing on the ground with his eyes closed. Sephiroth raised an eye. Nothing seemed to be any different. Then, Lloyd opened his eyes slowly, to reveal extremely dark golden colored eyes that could almost be mistaken for black. A smirk appeared on his face.

"**Well, I can't say I don't like this. You wouldn't even believe this power. Well, I guess I could show you," **Lloyd said raising a new sword, made of pure light mana. Then in his other hand, he raised another sword, made of pure dark mana. Sephiroth almost twitched but he retained his calm and collected composure.

"So, this is what you two become. Light and Darkness combine to make Twilight. I commend you on your skills, but it still seems that you don't have the power to defeat me," Sephiroth said confidently. Lloyd's smirk widened.

"**Is that what you think? Well, enough talk! It's time for round three!"** Lloyd charged at Sephiroth and their blades met for their last clash.

* * *

**I decided to end it here. A fusion of light and darkness, combined to make a twilight. Well, I hope you all enjoyed. Please review if you have anything to say. Later!**

* * *


	19. Fallen before the Angel

**Hey, I liked typing this fight so I decided to continue it quickly. You guys brought Cloud's disappearance to my attention. Man, don't I feel stupid? I'm going to apologize, this chapter is pretty pathetic in size. Anyway, I fixed the problem. I don't own Tales of Symphonia.**

* * *

Cloud glared at Sephiroth as he received the eerily calm smirk Sephiroth always seemed to be able to give out. Sephiroth jumped into the air and landed in front of Cloud. Lloyd fell to his knees unable to stand. Sheena and Naruto went to his side and attempted to help him. Sheena cursed.

"He's been put under an illusion of some sort," Sheena said as she gazed into Lloyd's eyes. She was confused when they changed from a brown color to a dark gold. Naruto shook his head.

"You mean like a genjutsu," Naruto asked. Sheena nodded.

"We could help him if he halted his flow of mana," Sheena explained with a scowl. "For some reason, I think Lloyd's doing everything but that." Cloud ignored this as he and Sephiroth engaged in what seemed to be a staring contest.

"That boy is interesting, he has so much power. It's astounding that he has any light left," Sephiroth said taking a glance in Lloyd's direction.

"Leave him out of this! He didn't do anything to deserve your attention," Cloud retorted. "You've walked free for too long, I'm going to kill you right here and now!" Cloud charged at Sephiroth with his Buster Sword. Sephiroth drew Masamune before raising his to block.

"Now now Cloud, is that any way to treat an old friend," Sephiroth replied offhandedly.

"Shut up," Cloud answered calmly. "I don't know why you came here, or brought me and Tifa here, but I'll make sure that you die. You don't need to bring him into this."

"But Cloud, you see, his power, his darkness is the essence of the reason I'm here. You can sense it, he holds a power that even the gods can't compete with. His darkness is very entrancing, it's only strange, that he has such a strong source of light as well," Sephiroth explained.

"You're here for Lloyd," Cloud asked. He turned to look at Lloyd.

"I've seen his power, it's far greater than anything I've seen before. If I can't make him give in to the darkness, then I'll just remove what makes his life so compelling," Sephiroth said. Cloud scowled. He knew exactly what Sephiroth meant by that statement. Cloud would stop Sephiroth from making Lloyd feel the same pain as he did.

"You're not going to touch anyone here!" Sephiroth laughed.

"His power, even in the illusion he still has so much of it. Do you think you can stop the inevitable, you're free to try," Sephiroth told Cloud.

_Meanwhile..._

* * *

Lloyd ran at Sephiroth and their blades clanged against each other. Lloyd grinned before jumping into the air. _**"As much as I hate to admit it, Dark has an impressive memory, I didn't think I could cast spells before, nor ones this impressive," **_Lloyd thought as he started to cast a spell, golden feathers were raising around him as he floated in the air. **"Sacred power, cast thy purifying light upon these corrupt souls, rot in hell sinners...Judgement!" **Sephiroth looked to the sky and saw what seemed to be millions of beams of light raining down. He narrowly avoided the first one and was soon engulfed by three more. Sephiroth nearly fell to his knees before standing up again. **"Why won't you stay the hell down?! Looks like you want more!" **Lloyd landed on the ground and ran towards Sephiroth. He started slashing his blades at him. Sephiroth calmly blocked. Lloyd grinned. **"Let's see how fast you really are. Endless Sword Rain!" **Lloyd started thrusting his swords at supersonic speed at Sephiroth. Sephiroth dodge two before being hit by the barrage of thrusts. Lloyd smirked as his blades ran through Sephiroth's skin like a knife through butter. Finally, after thrusting his blades seventy-three times, he jumped back. **"You're pretty boring now," **Lloyd said starting to get cocky. Sephiroth swung Masamune at Lloyd. Lloyd stood behind Sephiroth. **"Where are you looking?" **Sephiroth spun around and swung his sword once more. Lloyd was twenty feet away. **"Too slow! You need to do better than that," **Lloyd stated with a bored tone in his voice.

"Very well then," Sephiroth said as a dark blue aura surrounded him. Lloyd smirked.

"**Now we're talking!" **Lloyd ran at Sephiroth. Sephiroth smirked back before raising Masamune in defense. Lloyd swung his sword, it was inches away from his opponent's face. Sephiroth disappeared in a flock of black feathers. Lloyd turned around and barely blocked an attack Sephiroth threw. Sephiroth disappeared again in feathers. Lloyd jumped avoiding another blow when he saw Sephiroth right in front of him. Sephiroth swung his blade at Lloyd who had no time to block or avoid it completely. Lloyd managed to avoid most of it, his left arm being hit in the process. He landed on the ground and scowled. His left arm was completely useless. Sephiroth continued to smirk which pissed off Lloyd to no ends. **"Wipe that smile off before I end up removing it," **Lloyd said angrily. Sephiroth's smirk only deepened.

"Well, we'll just see then," Sephiroth replied cooly. Lloyd sighed.

"_I'm almost out of mana, on top of that, my left arm is completely useless. Damn him. I have to pull this around. I can use light and darkness-based spells in this form, and the latter of the two wouldn't be very useful against him. Plus they completely drain me, it's not worth it. My artes use up a crap load as well. Maybe I should just cool it on the artes and spells until I see a finishing blow. I have one idea, but it's going to suck," _Lloyd thought, he knew he wasn't getting anywhere using his mana uselessly. Lloyd looked at his blade of light in his useable right hand. He wasn't very skilled when it came to using one sword. He looked at Sephiroth and sighed. He raised up his sword and made it disappear in a flash of light. Sephiroth raised an eye. Lloyd ran at Sephiroth. Sephiroth swung his sword at Lloyd. Lloyd simply lowered his head under the blow and swung his fist in reply. Sephiroth jumped away from Lloyd only to find that Lloyd was following closely. Lloyd jumped after him and tried to land a kick which was caught by Sephiroth's free hand. Lloyd smirked as he twisted his body and delivered a punch into Sephiroth's face. He then jumped up into the air. Sephiroth jumped after him, Masamune poised to strike. Lloyd continued to smirk as he avoided another blow before delivering another kick in reply. Lloyd then caught Sephiroth's blade in his _"Useless" _left hand and pulled Sephiroth towards him. The blade of light reappeared in his right hand as Sephiroth inched towards him. He let out a final yell as he let out all his mana into his sword and he thrust it into Sephiroth's skull.

They both landed on the ground with Sephiroth falling over, sword still implanted in his face. Lloyd was panting for air. **"That's it, that's...**all my mana," Lloyd said looking down at Sephiroth. Lloyd grinned weakly when Dark reappeared in front of him looking every bit as pathetic as he was. "We sure kicked his ass, huh," Lloyd said cooly. Dark smirked.

"_**Yeah," **_Dark replied looking to Sephiroth. He paled at what he saw. Sephiroth sat up and the blade of light disappeared. Lloyd and Dark stared in disbelief.

"No way...HOW THE HELL ARE YOU STILL GETTING UP," Lloyd yelled. He was done, he couldn't do anymore.

"_**Grr...Stubborn mother fu-," **_Dark was cut off by a thought he just had. He then hit himself over his forehead. _**"Damn it! Lloyd, your stupidity has rubbed off on me! This is an illusion, it has been since we started this damn thing," **_Dark explained cursing. Lloyd paled.

"You mean that this is all fake," Lloyd asked. Dark nodded.

"_**Halt your flow of mana, this will all disappear," **_Dark said. Lloyd laughed.

"That shouldn't be too hard since I don't have any mana left to begin with," Lloyd thought out loud before closing his eyes. He felt the illusion disappear as he reopened his eyes.

* * *

Sephiroth smirked at Cloud. "Looks like he finally has awoken," Sephiroth stated as Lloyd blinked. Lloyd stood up rubbing his head.

"Damn, I have a head-ache. That was a dirty trick you pulled," Lloyd stated. Sheena sighed.

"Idiot. Why didn't you halt your mana sooner," Sheena scolded. Lloyd laughed.

"I didn't even know it as an illusion, I just ran out," Lloyd said grinning sheepishly. Sephiroth shook his head.

"It seems that you all need more power if you wish to defeat me. I will be waiting until you are ready. Don't keep me waiting too long. You have exactly three years from now," Sephiroth said. Lloyd and Cloud raised an eye.

"What happens in three years," Lloyd asked curiously. Sephiroth smirked.

"Defeat me, and you'll never have to see," Sephiroth said before fading away into black feathers. Cloud grit his teeth.

"Damn you! Wait," Cloud called after him before running after Sephiroth before he fully faded away. Lloyd sighed.

"Man, I'm beat, did anything interesting happen here," Lloyd asked. Sheena stared in Cloud's direction.

"It seems that Cloud is familiar with our new opponent. We may not have the time to face him, we have the Journey of Regeneration to worry about," Sheena said. Lloyd shook his head.

"We have to make that time, he can do horrible things, if we don't stop him, then the world could end because of our actions, we have to get stronger, before that time comes. Besides, I have one more thing to take care of," Lloyd said. Sheena raised an eye. Lloyd realized the true reason that they lost, he couldn't win that battle, because his soul was conflicting with itself. He needed to be completely light, or be completely dark. He knew he couldn't be both.

"We need to catch up with the others, it seems like we have a lot of training," Sheena said. Lloyd grinned. He stared into the sky once more wondering about the foretelling of the future. Lloyd stood up though he had only one thing on his mind, and unfortunately, Dark had the same thing on his mind.

"_**By the time we have to face him...Only one of us will remain," **_they both thought in unison. Lloyd sighed before walking off, with Sheena following close behind.

* * *

**I decided to make this one short, the epic battle will truly take place in three years, will Lloyd be ready by then? Review and I apologize for the short update. Plus, I decided to post two chapters today since this one was so short.**


	20. The Devil will Cry

**Hey! I decided on the two updates again since the last one was so short. Just go ahead and read. I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy VII, Naruto, or Devil May Cry. For those of you who want a list of Lloyd's artes, I'll post them eventually.**

* * *

Lloyd sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, it had been a whole year since he fought Sephiroth. He left the ninja village of Mizuho a few months ago to dedicate his time to training. He left after completely helping Sheena form the last two pacts. The wind blew harshly since there was going to be a tornado of sorts soon. Lloyd looked around before jumping on his Rheiard. He headed to the nearest city so he could get some shelter. He landed by Sybak before dismounting the Rheiard and putting it inside his wing pack.

Lloyd outgrew his dwarven clothing so he now wore a black hooded cloak that covered all of his features. Underneath the cloak was a red sleeveless shirt with a fishnet shirt underneath that one. He wore black shorts that resembled his old pants. His red boots were replaced with black ones matching his cloak. He wasn't wearing the hood.

He felt bad, he didn't tell anyone he was leaving, but Lloyd knew that he needed to be faraway from them when he and Dark had their battle. It would decide which of them would live on while the other died out. Lloyd and Dark never spoke anymore, unless it involved the exesphere, Lloyd was getting better at handling it without going all berserk and destroying everything, another reason Lloyd stayed away from his friends. Dark constantly tried convincing him to give in to the power Lloyd used, but Lloyd always had the upper hand in the conversation. Dark realized he was fighting a losing battle so he gave up on convincing Lloyd. Since then, it had been nothing but silence between them. It seemed that Lloyd finally made his choice. When he did, Dark said these words.

"_**Soon, we will fight, very soon. Then, only one of us will remain," **_Dark's words whispered in Lloyd's mind. Lloyd knew his battle to overcome his darkness was coming. He waited for it everyday since then. Until then, he continued to train. He couldn't use any of the artes or spells that he used in his twilight form. He merely improved artes he already had, learning more advanced versions of them. His mana didn't raise by a lot either. He seemed to be at a standstill in his abilities. He knew that would all change when he fought Dark. Lloyd sighed again.

He walked into Sybak and saw that the inn was filled out so he walked into the library and decided to relax there until the tornado passed. He looked around and saw that he was the only one there. He walked up to the front counter and didn't see anyone there. Lloyd suddenly felt paranoid. He searched around before looking out the window. He paled. He saw people in the streets, but noone was moving. It was as if time itself had frozen.

"What the hell," Lloyd questioned before his head ached with pain. He kneeled down holding his head.

"_**The time's almost here..." **_Lloyd heard the voice of Dark and sighed. He didn't want to drag anyone into his dilemma. He walked back outside. He then saw red and green disfigured creatures appearing everywhere. They had blades for arms and other sick features. Lloyd shook his head before drawing his swords. His head ached once more. _**"It's coming...The time's almost here," **_Dark whispered in his mind. Lloyd wondered what Dark meant. The disfigured creatures were inching towards Lloyd. _**"The time's almost here." **_Dark's voice echoed in his mind, saying these words over and over again. Lloyd head ached as he slashed through the group of creatures. They brought little to no resistance to being killed as more and more of them were appearing. The voice that once whispered in his mind was getting louder. He felt like he was losing concentration on his enemies and his vision started blurring. Lloyd dropped his blades and grabbed his head. _**"The time's almost here," **_Dark now yelled it out causing Lloyd to lose all focus. The disfigured creatures nearly finished him off when a clang of metal was heard. Dark was suddenly very silent. Lloyd looked up to see a man with mid length sliver hair, he wore a red coat that had black sleeves, he wielded a huge sword that was decorated with a skull on the hilt. Lloyd blinked.

"You all right kid? You need to focus on the game," the man said. Lloyd sighed before picking up his swords. He'd ask about him later. He stared at the creatures before going back to slashing them all apart. The man did the same in a much more random and crazed style. Lloyd took the time to see the man's capabilities and was amazed by what he saw. He could easily tell that the man far out powered him. The man used his sword as a propeller and hit an enemy into the air. He then jumped after it and slashed at it rapidly before slamming his blade at it down towards the ground. He then thrust his blade into at speeds which made Lloyd's Sword Rain look slow and then rammed his blade right through the creature. "Breakdown!" Lloyd then looked at the other creatures. They backed away in fear for the man before disappearing. Soon, all the creatures disappeared leaving no traces. The man strapped his sword to his back and sighed.

"That was a pathetic workout. Even those weight loss programs were more work than this," the man muttered which amazed Lloyd.

"Who are you," Lloyd asked him curiously. The man turned to him before grinning.

"Who's asking," the man replied cooly. Lloyd sighed.

"I'm Lloyd," Lloyd answered.

"The name's Dante. Say kid, I noticed a few things. You need to relax when you fight, you're too stiff. Have some fun with it," Dante told him. Lloyd raised an eye.

"What do you mean," Lloyd asked. Dante shook his head.

"You're worse than my brother. Just relax for a change," Dante advised before walking away. Lloyd looked at Dante's back as he walked away. Lloyd had too many questions to ask so he followed the man. He caught up seconds later and heard Dante sigh.

"What were those things," Lloyd asked.

"Devils, they are demons that come directly from hell to put this realm through misery," Dante explained. Lloyd raised an eye.

"So demons really exist," Lloyd asked. Dante laughed.

"You never seen one before huh? Well, I'll give you the get-go," Dante said offhandedly which caused Lloyd to question if this man ever took anything seriously. "These guys are just remains from some pathetic attempt to take over this realm. One of them however, turned traitor on their own and fought to protect this realm. He sealed them away with the help of an angel. Since then, these guys just appear only when another attempt at removing the seal arises. They're pretty stupid, I keep beating their assess straight back to hell where they came from and they keep coming for more," Dante said. Lloyd looked at him incredulously.

"You mean you've stopped them before," Lloyd asked.

"Shoot kid, I've lost count," Dante replied. "These guys were just weaker pawns, there's more powerful ones if you look for them." Lloyd mouthed a 'wow' in response. "Anyway, look kid, I got crap to do so if you could get lost, that would be pretty sweet," Dante said. Lloyd sighed.

"_Damn. I had more I wanted to ask him," _Lloyd thought. "Okay then, I'll just follow you on my own," Lloyd replied cooly. Dante smirked.

"Stubborn kid, well, whatever. Do what you want," Dante said. Lloyd grinned. They walked for a while without talking through the academy based city before reaching a few buildings that were old and seemingly fell apart at any given moment. Above on of them, was a neon sign that glowed different colors. It read, "Devil May Cry". Lloyd raised an eye.

"What's that," Lloyd asked pointing to it.

"That's the name of my business. I take on any jobs going from baby sitting brats to killing demons," Dante explained before kicking down his door. Lloyd paled.

"Why did you just break down your door," Lloyd asked. Dante shrugged.

"I dunno, I just replace it when I feel like it," Dante answered. Lloyd twitched. He was seriously starting to wonder if Dante took anything seriously as well. Lloyd looked around to see a pool table, multiple boxes of pizza, cups that seemed to be filled with strawberry sundaes, and a dart board. He looked at the desk and saw a note beside a phone. Lloyd learned about phones in Tethe'alla awhile ago. Dante picked up the note and scowled. "Damn, Trish gets all the fun ones," Dante muttered crumpling up the note. Dante took a seat at his desk and closed his eyes. Lloyd looked around some more and wondered if any more demons would show up. "So what do you do for a living kid," Dante asked. Lloyd was usually offended when someone referred to him as a child but with Dante, he didn't seem to care.

"Train. Fight random monsters...more training," Lloyd replied while listening to himself. Now he thought about it, his life was pretty boring.

"Wow, sounds boring if you ask me. You preparing for something," Dante asked. Lloyd thought about it.

"I guess you could say so," Lloyd replied.

"I'm just wondering why kids like yourself are just wondering around with weapons. You know how to use them too," Dante said offhandedly. "Anyway, I'm getting bored, wanna get some strawberry sundaes," Dante asked. Lloyd shrugged.

"Sure," Lloyd said. Then, the phone ringed. Dante hit the desk with his leg and the phone flew into his right hand.

"Devil May Cry...I see. Well, I guess I'll be there in a minute...Whatever man, do what you want," Dante said hanging up the phone. "That was a friend of mine, he got a call from some dude about demons and called me to help out. I better get going," Dante said standing up. He walked out the door with Lloyd following behind him. Lloyd turned to the door, or the lack of one, and raised an eye.

"Aren't you afraid someone will steal something," Lloyd asked curiously. Dante shook his head.

"Nah, there's nothing cool to steal, plus, nobody has the balls to do it," Dante remarked causing Lloyd to shake his head. Dante's carelessness was now getting to the point were it was just ridiculous. Lloyd just followed Dante wondering how long it was going to take. Dante found a motorcycle and jumped on it. He waved to Lloyd before driving off. Lloyd sighed before jumping on his Rheiard and following after him. Dante grinned. "What took you so long kid," Dante asked, laying down on his motorcycle steering with his legs. Lloyd sighed.

"Nothing, just pulling this damn thing out of the wing pack," Lloyd replied. Dante shook his head.

"Those things are too troublesome, so I don't bother," Dante said looking at the Tethe'alla Bridge. They crossed it when they heard a tornado start to form behind them. Lloyd looked back to Sybak and sighed. They reached Meltokio and jumped off their vehicles. Lloyd put his in the wing pack and looked around. Time seemed to be frozen again, just like it was in Sybak. Demons were running amok. Dante smirked.

"You know, most people aren't able to see this kind of thing. You must of been around some dark influence," Dante commented. "You'd be one of those people frozen there, well, let's get this over with, I have someone to chat with," Dante said unstrapping his sword, Rebellion. Lloyd unsheathed his swords and they both started hacking through the demons. Lloyd ran through them at a rapid rate. He slashed three that tried to surround him. He stood still and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. He decided to take Dante's advice and relax. A grin plastered itself on his face and he loosened his grip on his swords.

"Okay then. Let's have some fun," Lloyd said as a demon lunged at him. He simply sidestepped it and jumped on top of it, he was surprised how well it slid along the ground. He ran it into a wall before running up it. He then threw one of his swords at a random demon before jumping off, landing on top of it. He then removed his sword as well as it's head before jumping off. Then copying Dante from earlier, he spun his sword like a propeller hitting multiple demons into the air. He then jumped up after them and slashed them all to ribbons. Feeling very satisfied, he landed on the ground, feeling the adrenaline pumping through him. Lloyd turned to look at the remaining demons who, like with Dante, disappeared in fear for their lives. Lloyd grinned. "Yeah! That was awesome," Lloyd exclaimed as he sheathed his swords. He heard clapping from Dante.

"See kid? You're pretty good after all. I'd even go as far to say that I underestimated you," Dante said cooly. Lloyd grinned.

"Damn right you did," Lloyd exclaimed. He couldn't remember the last time he actually had fun when he was fighting. Lloyd grinned as he followed Dante up the steps, taking out every demon that crossed their path. He eventually reach the top and saw another man with silver hair, this one wore a blue coat and had a strange black arm that radiated blue aura. It wasn't a normal human's hand, that was for sure. This guy wielded a sword that had a hilt comparable to a handle of a motorbike. This guy was really good, no doubts there. He took out all the demons with ease. Lloyd noticed the occasional fist he threw at them with his weird arm. The man finished them all off and looked at the two.

"What took you so long," the guy said, he eyed Lloyd weirdly. "Who's this guy?"

"Oh just some friend of mine," Dante replied offhandedly looking at the sight of demons that faded away. Time seemed to continue like normal and people once again wondered the streets. The other man grinned lightly.

"Well I'm Nero," the man introduced himself.

"I'm Lloyd," Lloyd replied grinning as well. Lloyd had to admit, he met an interesting group of people today. Dante sighed before tossing Lloyd a card. Lloyd caught it and it had the sign from the building Dante stayed at earlier and a phone number.

"That's my card. Anytime you need help, just give me a call. Nero, next time I come by...I want a strawberry sundae," Dante stated cooly before walking off again. Lloyd didn't bother following this time. Nero gave a light chuckle.

"No goodbye huh? Arrogant bastard," Nero stated. Lloyd decided to not ask about the weird arm. "Anyway, I need to head back to the church and see how Kyrie's doing. Later Lloyd," Nero said walking off in the opposite direction. Lloyd looked at his back and shrugged. He had a feeling he'd be seeing them again, more importantly, he needed a phone.

"_Devil May Cry...Catchy name," _Lloyd thought as he looked up into the cloudy sky, rays of the sun started to shine through and fill the darkened land with light.

"_**The time's almost here," **_Dark said in his mind. Lloyd shook his head, he would have to deal with that problem, and soon.

* * *

**That's the end of this one. Yep, I went through with the first time-skip. I thought that this would be a good time to introduce Dante and Nero in this one. The last one I'll admit was pretty short. Well, I hope you enjoyed it!**


	21. Dying from the Inside

**Hey what's up! Summer has ended and I won't be able to update as much (Bummer, I know). Anyway, sorry about the long update and I hope you enjoy this chapter. This one is by far my favorite so far. I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy VII, Naruto, or Devil May Cry.**

Lloyd speaks in normal font

**Dark speaks in a bold font**

**_They speak simulteously in a bold and italicized font_**

* * *

_In another world far away..._

In a strange place called Yulia City, was a sleeping warrior, who faded from time for over two thousand years. Never awakening from the eternal slumber he rested in. He rested inside a capsule, frozen to persevere life through eternity. One day, it was decided for the sake of the universe that this warrior would be awakened. Known as a great hero, he fought to bring peace the world he existed on, only asking to be awakened when the peace was threatened.

A man, with short red hair awakened when a capsule was unfrozen. His vision was blurry. He was unable to see at first. He wore brown fingerless gloves, seeing as he brought one to his head. He wore white clothing that had a black face of a monster insignia on his back. He wore black pants that had a legendary sword strapped to it. His vision recovered, revealing deep blue eyes. He looked around and saw himself in a familiar room, with an unfamiliar person standing in front of him. The man bowed before him.

"I apologize for your awakening my lord," the man before him apologized. "But the situation has become dire, the very universe could end. We need your help and the power of Lorelei." The warrior blinked before stretching.

"Man, didn't I wake up into a situation. How many years has it been since I've been asleep," the red haired man asked.

"Approximately two thousand and thirty one years my lord," the other man replied. The red head waved his hand offhandedly.

"Geez man, just call me Luke. No need for the title," the read, now revealed as Luke said.

"My apologies, Luke fon Fabre. I need you to come with me," the unfamiliar man said. Luke nodded before following. They walked out of the single capsule room and walked into another room filled with thousands of them.

"Wow, you guys sure started production on these things, a lot of people must want to see the future," Luke commented seeing all of them. The man he walked next to nodded. Luke stared at the capsules wondering if he would recognize any of the people in them, to his dismay, he wasn't finding any. He started to feel bad, he had left all of his friends in the past, he'd never see any of them again. He then walked by one before stopping. He twitched upon seeing who was in it. It was Dist, the idiot his group defeated countless times. He resisted the urge to stab the capsule to death. He sighed before walking off, the only person he knew in the capsules was an idiot he despised. Luke then stopped at another capsule and grinned. He saw a woman with long brown hair and brown clothing that a priest would wear. She wore white gloves and boots. It was Tear.

"Say, could we unfreeze someone," Luke asked curiously. The man he walked with and turned to see who Luke spoke of.

"Hmm...I see, you know this person, quite well in fact. She was the one who assisted you in the defeat of Van Grants. Very well," the man went towards the capsule and pressed a few buttons causing the ice to unfreeze. Luke stared on curiously until Tear opened her eyes. Luke grinned.

"_Yes! There's at least one person cool here that I know," _Luke mentally cheered. Tear stretched her arms as soon as the capsule opened and she rubbed her eyes. She stared at Luke for a good minute before her eyes widened.

"Luke!? Is that you," Tear asked incredulously.

"No, I'm his great-great-great-great-great grandson," Luke replied. Tear punched his arm. Luke held it in mock pain before muttering an 'ow'.

"Don't even joke about that," Tear replied instantly. Luke grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry. I was apparently awoken cause the universe will end or something," Luke replied offhandedly. They turned to the man and nodded to him. They followed him into the meeting room that Mayor Teodoro used to use. Nothing seemed to have changed.

"With the discovery of the Eighth Fonon, we discovered something very dire," the man explained. Luke and Tear raised an eye.

"Eighth Fonon," Luke asked curiously.

"Sorry, the Time and Space Fonon," the man explained. Luke and Tear paled. There was such a fonon? "There seemed to be a disturbance of time on a certain planet light-years away. Any disturbance in time and space could completely destroy all of existence in the universe and the disturbance hasn't disappeared," the man explained. "However, we don't have any Seventh Fonist who could deal with the problem. Also, the second-order hyperresonace you can make can transport you through time and space itself. That is due to your connection with Lorelei," the man explained. Luke snapped his fingers.

"Then I bet you want me to go and deal with this problem then," Luke stated. The man nodded.

"We have a machine that could transport you and back to the planet, it needs your power to function. When you arrive, you'll be able to sense the Eighth Fonon as soon as you come across it. The rest in your hands Luke." Luke turned to Tear.

"Ready to save the universe," Luke asked with a bored tone in his voice. Tear sighed.

"This isn't a joke Luke," Tear scolded. Luke grinned sheepishly once more.

* * *

_Lloyd arrived in the village of Iselia at the age of four. He stood alongside Dirk, his adoptive dwarven father of one year. He shyly hid behind his father's left leg as the guards turned to look at him._

"_Dirk? Who's this young boy," one of the guards asked. Dirk smiled._

"_This 'ere is my son. The mayor shoulda already been informed. He will be enrolled 'ere in school," Dirk explained putting a hand on Lloyd's shoulder. Lloyd turned to peek at the people staring at him. He gave a light smile._

"_Hello," Lloyd greeted somewhat nervously. The men before him grinned._

"_Hello there young Lloyd." they replied in unison. It almost sounded kind of scary. Dirk and Lloyd walked through the village receiving curious looks. Lloyd turned to see a crowd surrounding a girl about a year younger than himself. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes. She was smiling as people asked her all sorts of questions. Lloyd could see though, that her smile was fake. He raised an eye but shook it off as he was starting to fall behind. They walked into the mayor's house. Dirk and the mayor discussed Lloyd's education in the village._

"_We'll educate him, but how will he travel through the forest," the mayor asked. Dirk gave a hearty laugh._

"_Well, the lad 'ere will learn to defend himself when the time comes," Dirk explained._

_Through that moment, Lloyd was instructed by Dirk on ways to defend himself from monsters, when Lloyd reached the age of seven, he was given his first wooden swords. Not sharp enough to penetrate skin, but good enough to bash anyone that would mess with him. Lloyd was finally able to reach Iselia on his own when he was eight. Since then, he went to school and studied under Raine Sage, an elf from the village. Lloyd earned various comments from other students on how stupid he was since he would sleep in class and often miss the lessons that were taught. This was due to when he finished traveling through the forest, he was worn out. As the years progressed, Lloyd did not improve. Though he finally was able to make it through the forest without so much as breaking a sweat, he still did not know the material taught in earlier lessons due to his fatigue. He continued to be completely ignorant in the eyes of his classmates and then the news spread to the village as a whole. Lloyd was well known among the village as a failure. The was only few people who did not think that he was a complete idiot. He was eleven when hope was given up on him._

_Lloyd hated the village, they continued to look down on him no matter how hard he tried. He decided he would completely give up on school, and train more with his swords. He wanted to be a warrior who could defend the lives of others. That way, the village could accept him for who he was. That's when he saw someone, just as alone as he was. It was a boy five years younger than he was. He had silver hair that grew to his waist. He remembered the boy from his class, he was extremely smart for his age. The boy was always studying, like the only life he had was school. Lloyd knew that the boy, Genis, was unhappy, so what did he do? He became his best friend. They did nearly everything together, except for homework. Lloyd said he'd pass. Genis was the first person to accept Lloyd for who he was, soon, many of the children younger than Lloyd would look up to him. However, their parents would have none of it. They told their children stories about Lloyd's stupidity. However, the children still continued to look up to Lloyd. Soon, many people started to see how kind Lloyd truly was and started to accept him as well. Soon enough, Lloyd's hatred for the village was long forgotten._

* * *

These memories plunged though Lloyd's mind. He stood in front of this paradox in his mind, fifteen years old. Lloyd had sighed at remembering who he used to be. His hatred, he knew that this surfaced some of his darkness, which allowed Dark to be created from the horrid mana of the exsphere. He remembered what it was like, when he first met Dirk, the day after he lost his father and mother. He couldn't remember anything about them anymore. He remembered how he cried and cried for his parents, until one day, he just stopped. He remembered when he realized that he caused the Desians to destroy the village of Iselia, killing many people. Lloyd knew that he couldn't continue to exist as he had before. Sephiroth was a painful reminder of why light and darkness couldn't coexist inside of him. Lloyd smiled at the memories of his friends. He remembered all the times he spent with Genis and Colette, playing pointless games when there wasn't a care in the world. He remembered the moment he met Sheena, he fought to protect her from a dark creature that threatened to kill her. He remembered meeting Cloud, Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel in Tethe'alla. He found out they were from another world. He remembered the moment he entered Mizuho. He met Naruto and Sasuke. They broke out into a childish fight. Lloyd remembered meeting Itachi, Dante, and Nero. They were so cool and laid back. Lloyd remembered it all.

As much as Lloyd loved his friends, he knew, deep down inside of himself...That he hated them. They were all strong, sometimes way stronger than he was. Lloyd was jealous of their power, and wanted more to defeat them. Lloyd knew this, and he despised himself for it. It wasn't until Sheena cried when Lloyd realized how horrible he was. Lloyd hated himself so much, that he wanted to destroy himself. He was torn on the inside, to save him, his exsphere reacted and formed Lloyd into two separate entities. The other entity was Dark. Lloyd knew that there couldn't be more than one of him, his body couldn't hold two souls. Lloyd would have to either kill or be killed by the darkness he created. Lloyd finally came to realize all of this. He decided, from that moment on, he would protect his friends...from himself if he had to.

Dark finally appeared before Lloyd, and smirked as Lloyd sighed. **"Seems like you're finally ready. I was getting bored of waiting," **Dark stated. Lloyd managed to smile.

"Yeah, I have decided. I know why you exist now. I know everything now," Lloyd replied staring at Dark. "It's my fault, all of it. The very reason you exist is because of my weaknesses." Dark laughed.

"**Your weaknesses? It was natural, you lost your parents, was despised by the villagers for your own existence, and watched as other people took away your sole-redeeming feature. It was only natural for you to hate the villagers of Iselia, just as it's natural to hate people that made you look weak," **Dark explained with a tone of arrogance in his voice. Lloyd sighed.

"The people of the village accepted me for who I was, even if it wasn't completely. I couldn't let go of the meaningless hatred I had and wound up with you as a result," Lloyd retorted, causing Dark to raise an eye. "My other friends were stronger than me, I let it get to me like an idiot. Heh, maybe I was a stupid as the villagers said I was after all. At least, now I know it's different, I no longer hate the villagers or my friends. The exsphere didn't create you to save me, as much as you would like to think," Lloyd explained. Dark looked at you in confusion.

"**What do you mean," **Dark asked. **"I thought the answer was obvious. I was created in order to save you."**

"Wrong, even an idiot like me knows the real answer. You were created, so I could overcome you, my darkness, to protect my friends, because it knew that was what I truly wanted. I won't doubt that I'll still have darkness inside of me afterwards, but I know that after this, I'll be able to overcome it. No matter what it takes," Lloyd exclaimed. He raised his left hand into the air, exsphere glowing it's white aura, no longer taunting him with it's power. Dark stared at Lloyd, he stared in confusion as Lloyd stared back, with fierce determination. Finally, he grinned. He laughed as if Lloyd told a funny joke. The laughter was filled with traces of insanity.

"**I can't believe how stupid you'd have to be to come up with that excuse," **Dark exclaimed. Lloyd's eyes widened as a Dark raised his left hand into the air, black aura flowing from Dark's similar exsphere. **"Very well then Lloyd...If that's truly what you believe, THEN OVERCOME ME!" **Lloyd paled when swords appeared in Dark's hands. Lloyd withdrew his swords from his sheathes.

"I PLAN ON IT," Lloyd yelled back. They both jumped towards each other and their blades met with a loud clang. Lloyd and Dark jumped apart and charged mana into their blades. In unison, they looked into each other's eyes and called out their attack.

"_**Demon Fang Overlimit!" **_The two giant shockwaves collided in between them. The grinded against each other before exploding, launching Lloyd and Dark far away from each other. Lloyd landed on his feet and ran towards Dark. He pulled back his sword and thrust it forward quickly.

"Hurricane Thrust!" Dark landed on his feet to see Lloyd thrust his wind based arte at him. Dark ducked underneath the blade and swung his swords at Lloyd's feet. Lloyd jumped over the swipes and flipped to land on his feet. He saw Dark smirking.

"**Demonic Rush!" **Lloyd watched as Dark ran towards him at three times usual speed.

"Coil!" Lloyd charged mana into his arms shortly before Dark reached him. Lloyd then rammed his elbow into Dark's stomach Lloyd then rammed his blades into Dark. "Beast!" The force of the attack sent Dark flying. Dark bounced along the ground before landing on his feet.

"**This isn't over! Double Demon Fang!" **Dark launched two shockwaves towards Lloyd. Lloyd swiftly ran to the side avoiding harm. Dark watched as Lloyd ran after him again. **"Predictable as always," **Dark commented. **"Double Demon Fang!" **Lloyd silently muttered his Demonic Rush arte to avoid being hit by the impending shockwaves. Lloyd finally reached Dark and swung the sword in his left hand at Dark. Dark brought up his sword in his right hand and defended against Lloyd's attack. Both blades broke upon impact, falling to pieces. Lloyd and Dark tossed their useless blades to their sides and jumped apart. Lloyd held his usable sword up and ran towards Dark. He took his sword and spun it like a propeller, very much like Dante.

"Prop Shredder!" Dark blocked the attack only to be pushed into the air. His eyes widened as Lloyd quickly jumped up after him. "Aerial Rave!" Lloyd slashed through Dark at sonic speeds. Dark suffered the blows before Lloyd slammed his sword downwards, bringing him and Dark back to the ground. Then, pulling his blade back, he thrust his blade into Dark at even faster speeds. "Sonic Sword Rain!" Lloyd pulled his blade back and charged mana into it before he thrust it dangerously towards Dark. Dark managed to raise his sword to block the last blow. Lloyd and Dark paled as their blades broke once more. Lloyd instantly reacted by swinging his fist. Dark jumped away to avoid. Lloyd sighed before tossing his other useless blade to the side. Dark did the same shortly after.

"**These swords were useless pieces of crap if you ask me," **Dark stated as blood poured out of his wounds. Lloyd shook his head, the battle was far from over.

"I couldn't agree more," Lloyd replied, before charging at Dark. Lloyd charged mana into his fists before reaching Dark. "Wyrm Rush!" Lloyd swung his fists at Dark before ending it with an uppercut. Then he charged twice as much mana into his left hand. "Impact Coil!" His fist was caught by Dark's hand. Dark then proceeded to kick Lloyd's stomach. He then threw Lloyd over his body onto the ground. Lloyd rolled out of the way of many stomps of Dark's feet before arising to his feet.

"**Demon Fist!"** Lloyd immediately jumped into the air after hearing the attack, narrowly avoiding the shockwave gliding beneath him. Lloyd landed on the ground and charged visible mana into his hands. He formed hand signs, ending them with holding his left hand down towards the ground.

"_Naruto, Sasuke, I can never thank you enough for this idea," _Lloyd thought. "Storming Rage," Lloyd exclaimed. Lightning similar to Sasuke's Chidori formed in his left hand, before swirling into a spiral, the lightning noticeably split into fragments by wind, while held together by it's spinning. Dark's eyes widened.

"**What the hell is that," **Dark asked in shock as he stared at the seemingly dangerous attack. Lloyd grinned.

"Here you called me an idiot for having friends. My elemental affinities helped me build this arte. Sasuke's Chidori went too fast for me to predict my opponent's moves, but ironically, it's useless without that speed. Naruto's Rasengan was too powerful and precise for me to even attempt. By using my elemental affinities, I combined and balanced out the attacks so I could use them. While it's not as strong as the Rasengan or as fast as the Chidori, it's just as effective," Lloyd explained. Dark's shock faded away, soon replaced with excitement. He raised his right hand into the air. Black aura gathered itself in his hand. It swirled into a giant ball, at least five times the size of Lloyd's new arte. The aura the compacted itself into a small ball, roughly the same size as Storming Rage.

"**I never knew you were this smart Lloyd. However, I so happen to have a trick or two up my sleeve as well. We'll have to see who's is stronger," **Dark replied cooly. Lloyd's eyes narrowed. **"Misery Gathering!" **Lloyd ran towards Dark, maintaining his new arte. Dark ran towards Lloyd maintain his as well. They both pulled their arms back as they reached each other, they glared into each other's eyes. They both let out a loud yell as they thrust their attacks into each other. The mana of the attacks collided and the two held out their outstretched arms, pumping more and more mana into their attacks. Blasts of wind, lightning, and darkness blew out in every direction with exception of Lloyd and Dark. They continued to glare as the mana started to surround them, eventually engulfing them. Lloyd blinked for a split moment, and saw himself when he was three, crying for his parents that were no longer there. Lloyd blinked again and saw Dark once again glaring back into his eyes. Lloyd's gaze softened as he gave a light smile.

"I see...That day, when I decided to stop crying, you were that part of me that never did. I could feel it. You never stopped crying, did you," Lloyd asked sympathetically. Dark's eyes widened. He then growled in anger.

"**Shut the hell up! You gave up on our parents! What gives you the right to say anything like that?" **Lloyd opened his mouth to reply but Dark cut him off.** "SHUT THE HELL UP! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR EXCUSES," **Dark screamed out as he let all of his mana into his arte. Lloyd paled. His light smile instantly dropped.

"Are you trying to kill us both," Lloyd asked incredulously. The abhorrent mana finally imploded on the both of them. The implosion of mana fell upon the two and ran through them with horrible results. When the mana finally faded away, Lloyd and Dark were on their knees panting. Lloyd paled as Dark stood up and glared at him murderously. "What are you doing? You'll kill yourself from the lack of mana, you just used the rest of it up," Lloyd warned him.

"**Shut up! I don't care anymore. I'm going to kill you," **Dark retorted. Lloyd shook his head. He knew he had plenty of mana of his own. He couldn't believe that the usually calm and collected Dark could do something so idiotic. Lloyd let out a small chuckle. **"What the hell are you laughing about!"**

"It's just, you really are me after all. That something I'm usually stupid enough to do," Lloyd replied. Dark growled. He brought his hands together for one last powerful arte. He formed a large sword out of pure darkened mana and rose it above his head.

"**Blade of Infinity!" **Dark held the blade of pure mana at his side and ran at Lloyd with the last of his energy. Lloyd shook his head before bringing his hands together. Lloyd gathered his mana and formed it into a similar sword.

"Blade of Infinity!" Lloyd held his giant sword of pure mana at his side. Lloyd stared into Dark's eyes as they ran towards each other once more. They traded blows as the swords slammed against each other. Lloyd knew that the time was near, he wasn't just killing Dark, he was killing himself. They continued to slash at each other, Dark showing various openings that Lloyd refused to take. Dark wasn't even concentrating anymore, he was just lashing out. Lloyd truly pitied him. Finally, Lloyd parried one of Dark's swings, completely knocking the blade of darkened mana out of Dark's hands.

"_I guess I have to finish this," _Lloyd thought as he brought his sword over his head. He let out a final yell as he launched a beam of mana at Dark. The beam engulfed him and destroyed him. The beam faded as Lloyd panted heavily. Dark was on his back, with his eyes half open. Lloyd walked over to Dark and kneeled down next to him. Dark, with his eyes glazed with tears, stared at Lloyd. His body was transparent, and was fading quickly.

"**Looks like, I was outdone by the idiot after all," **Dark commented weakly. Lloyd looked at Dark regretfully. **"Maybe, I was the idiot after all. Mother died, I always knew it but... I... Lloyd.** **I lost because I was foolish. I couldn't accept the truth of mother's death, or the truth of the deaths of the villagers of Iselia. I ran away from the truth... I was weak," **Dark explained in between coughs. Blood flowed from his mouth. **"You however, had that strength and moved on. Maybe, in another life, I could be more like you were." **Lloyd raised an eye at this comment.

"What are you talking about? You are me," Lloyd replied weirdly. Dark lightly chuckled.

"**Yeah, I guess so. Well, you did what you had to while I couldn't... Lloyd... Don't forget that strength and forge ahead," **Dark said weakly using the last of his breath. With that, his glazed eyes finally closed, and his body completely faded away. Lloyd felt horrible, he succeeded in killing a part of himself. The worst thing of it all, was that he had to do it. He had to sacrifice his other half to live.

"Damn it. There was no meaning in dying. From now on, I promise I'll make it to where nobody needs sacrificed anymore. I won't quit until I find a way. I'll stop exspheres from being made and stop people from suffering. I won't sacrifice Sylvarant or Tethe'alla. I'll stop Yggdrasill, this I swear on you... no, myself. I promise," Lloyd stated as he stared at the ground. He faded from his mind-scape and appeared in the fields close to Mount Fuji. He stared into the sky which was strangely cloudy. Then rain started to fall, soaking him as it landed on him. Lloyd closed his eyes, allowing the rain to pour over his face. As he did, tears slowly fell from his eyes. That day, he truly lost a part of what made himself him. As the tears blended with the rain, Lloyd remembered his promise, and decided to return to Mizuho. From that moment on, his never ending efforts to save the worlds would be tripled if humanely possible.

* * *

**That's the end. Eight pages! Damn! That is definitely a new record. Maybe I'll strive to make all my chapters this long since there's school, I won't be able to update as much anymore (sorry) but I'll make sure every single one will be the best I can put out. Anyway, I think that I did this fight with Dark better than any other fight I've put out. I also put in Tales of the Abyss at last (with the exception of Sync). Twisted huh? Luke and Tear are two thousand years into the future! I wonder what planet they spoke of (It's pretty obvious though! Hehe) Anyway, I believe that everyone has faults at some points, even someone as pure as Lloyd when he was younger. Please review if you thought you liked the truth behind Lloyd and Dark. Maybe add a suggestion for the future, I think the Regeneration Journey is coming pretty close now, I don't know whether I should do it now or add one last chapter of a younger Lloyd and Sheena. Please give me your opinion. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!**


	22. Dark Bindings Removed

**Hey guys, what's up. Thanks to hep, I've decided to make one last chapter with younger characters before the Journey of Regeneration. Besides, I think I have a pretty good idea anyway. With Luke and Tear planning to show up at any given moment, I've decided to wait until the Journey to bring them in completely. Now, I'm going to ask which **_**four**_**people should join Lloyd and Sheena in Sylvarant, think of it like a poll. I'll have the character's votes posted next chapter. **_**This is the only chapter you get to vote so use it wisely.**_** You get to pick **_**four**_ **people from my crossovers. No more than that. The only people excluded from voting are Luke, Tear, Nero, Naruto, and Sasuke. Don't vote for them, I already have plans for them.** **Basically, your choices are Itachi, Anko, Cloud, Botta, Dante, and Presea**. **Also, any other **_**new**_** character I reveal this chapter can be voted for as well. Remember, it's your choice. **_**Four people only. **_**Anyway, I don't own** **Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy VII, Naruto, and Devil May Cry.**

* * *

Lloyd stood in the Renegade base, audibly sighing his frustration as he sat outside of Yuan's office. The usually impatient Yuan was taking his sweet time doing whatever the leader of the Renegades did, making Lloyd wait in the process. Lloyd almost decided to utterly destroy the metal doors that separated the rooms he and Yuan were in.

"Damned bastard, making me wait like this...I have people to meet, places to be, and all that other crap," Lloyd muttered angrily. Finally, the doors slid open. Lloyd walked in to se the ever so stoic Yuan staring at him with a scowl.

"What is it? I am quite busy you know," Yuan commented as he seemingly filed some papers. Lloyd stared intensely at Yuan.

"Busy with what," Lloyd asked rudely. Yuan growled.

"That's no concern for an idiot such as yourself. Now, why are you here," Yuan demanded angrily. Lloyd gave out a long sigh.

"Well, I need your help...What do I need to do in order to defeat Yggdrasill," Lloyd asked, completely serious. The scowl on Yuan's face twitched, before quickly forming a wide smirk.

"Well, Lloyd...Allow me to show you what we need to do for the next few months," Yuan replied with a trace of excitement. Lloyd almost started regret his decision as he saw the smirk widen to the point where it looked almost maniacal.

* * *

The wind blew across the grassy plains that surrounded Mizuho and Gorrachia Forest. In the midst of those grassy plains was a pillar of stone that overlooked the entrance of Mizuho and Gorrachia Forest, making it possible to see anyone and everything that could cross into the village, making it an ideal lookout point. At the top of this pillar stood none other than the bearer of the pact, Sheena Fujibyashi. She spent more time watching the plains to keep look for intruders. That was the reason she stated anyway. The real reason was Lloyd's defection from the village eight months ago, the very day after she formed the pact with Shadow, the Summon Spirit of Darkness. She ran her fingers through her bangs as she sighed. She lost count of the times she wished Lloyd would just appear through the darkened forest.

Mizuho's Information Network could not track Lloyd due to their surprise. The only thing they knew was that he hadn't traveled to Sylvarant. Every time they would find a lead on Lloyd, he would disappear when they went to investigate. Lloyd was always moving, most of the time by foot, not wanting to attract any attention. Sheena wondered why Lloyd was going through so much effort to not be found. She couldn't see any reason why Lloyd would want to get away so fast. So, she kept watch, waiting for the eventual day Lloyd would show up.

She did this, day and night, for months, only moving for food and sleep, which she did rarely. When other people would come to do lookout duty, Sheena claimed she would take care of it. The only person who refused her was Naruto. Naruto, as much as he hated lookout duty, knew that Sheena needed food and rest, he went through the trouble of bringing her food everyday when he could. Itachi often took over when Sheena needed sleep, switching off with Sasuke.

The daytime sky had finally started to change it's blue color as the sun had started to set. Sheena continued to stand, waiting and waiting. Soon the once blue sky had become dark with the stars shining ever so brightly. Sheena stared at the moon as it continued to rise at it's ever slow unnoticeable pace. Soon, she heard people land behind her. She turned to see Naruto, Sasuke, and a girl their age with long blue hair and pale eyes. She was Hinata Hyuga. She stood next to Naruto shyly.

"It's our shift Sheena. Get some sleep," Naruto said cooly. Sasuke nodded to her. Sheena sighed.

"I'll be fine for a few more hours," Sheena replied quietly. As if contradicting her statement, she yawned. Hinata shook her head.

"But Sheena, you need your rest," Hinata said barely loud enough for everyone to hear. Sheena opened her mouth to reply but Sasuke cut her off.

"She's right. Go back to the village," Sasuke said. Sheena sighed before hopping down the pillar. She took one last hopeful look towards the entrance of the forest to stop in her tracks. There was a person, with a black cloak on, zipper running up the middle. It's hood was flowing in the wind behind the person, revealing spiky brunette hair. It was too far away to notice any other details. Sheena's eyes widened when he seemed to be getting closer. Sheena before anyone else could react, ran as fast as she could towards the cloaked person. Without noticing, her foot landed in a hole causing her to trip over herself. She landed with her face in the grass below. She quickly looked up to see that the person she saw was gone, leaving no traces. She couldn't stop the tears that fell from her eyes when she realized that nobody was there.

In that moment, Sheena felt someone holding her arm and helping her onto her feet. She turned expecting to see Naruto, but her eyes widened when she was face to face with the person she had saw. Sheena could only stare in shock as the person, his eyes covered by his hair smiled at her.

"Geez Sheena, you're always so clumsy," the person commented in a voice familiar to her. The wind finally gave it's last howl as it blew the hair out of the person's eyes to reveal eyes she wanted to see for so long. Lloyd gave his trademark grin that made him look like an idiot. Sheena instantly clinged to his chest causing them to almost lose their balance. Lloyd raised an eye. _"I wasn't gone that long...was I? Maybe a few months...A year tops," _Lloyd thought stupidly, realizing he didn't keep track of the time. A second later, he heard light breathing in his arms, Sheena hung limply in his arms. He almost smirked when he came to the brilliant conclusion that Sheena had fallen asleep. Instantly, he heard two people land behind him, he turned to see Naruto and Sasuke, armed with kunai. They originally had glares plastered on their faces until they saw Lloyd. Then they turned to looks of light shock, not long before reverting back to glares.

"After all this time, you finally decide to show up. I regret to say that since you disappeared without a word, that you've been classified as a nuke-nin. You are to be apprehended on sight and brought back to the village for explaining, and if that's not possible...We kill you, so the secrets of the village won't be revealed. Now I will ask you, will you come peacefully," Sasuke asked putting a hand on his sword at his side. Naruto was wearing Trench Knives on each hand. Lloyd grinned.

"I'll come back to the village, but I want to see how strong you guys are, so I've decided to go along with, _resisting capture," _Lloyd said emphasizing his point. He threw off his black cloak and stood in a ready stance. Naruto and Sasuke started to run at Lloyd before Lloyd put up his hand. "Wait a minute, Sheena's right here, and I believe your friend is in the trees, about fifty meters to the right watching our every move, waiting to strike," Lloyd explained surprising Naruto and Sasuke. "Let's move to somewhere more secure, without anyone in the way to get hurt." With that, they moved away from Sheena at a slow pace, walking. Lloyd looked into the night sky while Sasuke and Naruto stared at him. When they felt as if they were far enough away, Naruto and Sasuke jumped at him with their weapons poising to strike. In lightning speed, Lloyd had his swords out and blocking the attacks. "Whoa, I didn't say go yet," Lloyd said sarcastically, while secretly thinking that Dante or Kakashi was rubbing off on him.

Lloyd jumped into the air to see that Sasuke followed suit, Lloyd smirked as he turned to Sasuke. "PSI Tempest!" Lloyd revealed his ability to use artes in mid-air and flipped towards Sasuke. Sasuke quickly used substitution and traded places with a log. Lloyd smirked as Naruto was running towards him with a Rasengan. Just as Naruto almost reached him... "Fierce Demon Fang!" Lloyd bent the shockwave upwards, keeping it in place as it struck Naruto. Naruto lost his focus and the Rasengan dissipated. Lloyd grinned as he jumped back into the air and did something that surprised them all, his visit to Yuan wouldn't go un-wasted.

"He's something shocking to you all," Lloyd chanted as lightning mana built around him. Sasuke paled. Lloyd was casting a spell!

"_What the hell? He's human! That shouldn't be possible," _Sasuke thought preparing a Guardian.

"Lightning!" Sasuke noticed that the spell flying towards the ground wasn't aimed at him. The bolt of lightning struck Naruto and sent volts coursing through his body. Naruto growled.

"Oh, you're going to pay for that," Naruto yelled after him. Lloyd landed on the ground with a smirk.

"It's windy, wouldn't you think? Wind Blade!" Naruto jumped over the spell of air flying towards him and laughed.

"Real funny," Naruto retorted. Then he heard Sasuke cry out in pain. Naruto turned to see the attack had hit Sasuke who was unlucky enough to be standing behind Naruto at the time. Naruto grinned sheepishly. The then twitched when he sensed someone standing over him. He then narrowly avoided an swipe at his head.

"You should pay more attention to your enemy. Sword Rain Alpha!" Lloyd thrust his blades at Naruto rapidly. Naruto narrowly avoided each thrust and jumped away when Lloyd slashed himself up into the air. Naruto grinned at Lloyd's obvious opening.

"You shouldn't leave yourself open," Naruto retorted once more.

Naruto jumped towards Lloyd. "Rising Falcon!" Lloyd dove straight through Naruto with his foot, not wanting to tear him open with his swords. Naruto felt the foot hit his face and fell backwards.

"Kuso...What aren't you good at," Naruto called out. Lloyd grinned.

"If you haven't found out my weakness yet, then you're a bigger idiot than I am," Lloyd said. Lloyd knew he hadn't stopped grinning for the whole match. Sasuke landed next to Naruto. They nodded to each other and formed their respective finishers in their hands.

"Rasengan!"

"Chidori!"

They then combined the two jutsu and glared at Lloyd as he went through hand signs. They were puzzled, Lloyd disliked using jutsu before, so why is he forming hand signs, that's when Sasuke noticed something. _"Those are the same as the hand signs for Chidori!" _Lloyd spun his hand down and used a strange sign they hadn't seen before he held his hand down.

"Storming Rage!" Lloyd held a ball of wind and lightning in his hand as it spun in a circle. "Come on! Let's see what you got!" They charged at each other and thrust their attacks into each other. Lloyd gave one last smirk before his attack dissipated into nothingness. He then side-stepped Naruto's and Sasuke's attack and grabbed their wrists before slamming them into each other. As Sasuke's and Naruto's arms twitched, Lloyd sighed and helped them up back to their feet. "Alright, that enough, I've seen what you guys can do. I'll head back to the vill-.." Lloyd never finished as a green blur tried to plant a foot in Lloyd's face. Lloyd quickly ducked and jumped away. Lloyd turned to the green blur to see him standing still, he had black hair cut into the shape of a bowl and _huge _eyebrows. He wore green spandex and bandages on his arms. Another of his bizarre features was his orange leg warmers.

"Yosh! These men have expressed their youth in battle, I must join as well," the boy exclaimed. Instantly afterwards, Naruto hit him over the head.

"You idiot! That's Lloyd, he's coming back to the village," Naruto retorted. The said boy cried as he laughed.

"Yosh! You are the Lloyd I heard so much of. You're youth shines brightly. I am Rock Lee, and I challenge you," Lee exclaimed. Lloyd smirked.

"Huh, you say something," Lloyd asked feigning ignorance. Lee cried.

"And you're cool too! Yosh, I must train a thousand times harder so I can defeat you," Lee exclaimed before zipping off. "If I cannot run one thousand laps around Gorrachia Forest, then I shall do three thousand push-ups," Lee's voice echoed. Lloyd twitched.

"That guy...he trains way harder than me," Lloyd commented while shaking his head. "Anyway, anyone know where I can get a haircut? My hair keeps getting in my eyes."

"That's not important right now. Why'd you leave, do you know how bad everyone missed you? Sheena hasn't been on any missions unless it involved finding you. Then you just show up without a word beforehand, freak us all out, and start fighting. What the hell is wrong with you," Naruto exclaimed. Lloyd frowned.

"I had something that I really needed to take care of. Getting you all involved was something that would've gotten you hurt. So I left, simple as that," Lloyd explained. "Anyway, I don't feel like explaining why, so stop asking." Sasuke raised an eye.

"How were you able to cast spells? It's impossible for a human to use mana of the natural world. Spill it," Sasuke demanded. Lloyd laughed.

"You're right. Humans can't use spells because they use the mana of the world around them. Only those of elven blood can use them. It all started when I went to Yuan for training..."

* * *

_Lloyd strapped to the wall raising an eye as Yuan smirked at him, holding a vial of black liquid. Lloyd almost panicked._

"_What the hell is going on," Lloyd demanded to know._

"_Simple, this liquid here is the legendary Aionis. Lloyd, while it may be distant, you have extremely small traces of elven blood. This liquid will merely awaken the elven blood running in your veins. However, this has a seventy-five percent rate of failure. If this fails, you'll die," Yuan said causing Lloyd's eyes to widen._

"_WHAT," Lloyd yelled in shock._

"_However, that's where your special exsphere comes in. Because your body is already attune to large amounts of mana, it can take the pressure that Aionis puts on it. In other terms, it's an almost guaranteed success," Yuan told him. Lloyd sighed in relief._

"_Then why did you tell me I could die," Lloyd asked. Yuan's smirk widened._

"_I recall saying __**almost**__ guaranteed success, dying is still probable. Not to mention it's extremely painful," Yuan said sadistically. Lloyd paled._

"_Then why am I strapped to the wall," Lloyd asked. Yuan almost broke out and laughed evilly._

"_Simple, it's so you can't refuse," Yuan replied evilly. Lloyd's skin paled to a bright white._

"_Wait! Can't we talk about this? N-no!" Lloyd's screams fell upon deaf ears as Yuan cackled evilly into the seemingly empty base._

* * *

Lloyd shuddered at the memory as he explained. It was painful beyond words. He wished to die multiple times. "Anyway, then the bastard taught me how to use the natural mana around me. I know Lightning and Wind Blade. Since I'm still a human, I can't use godly powerful spells like Indignation and Explosion," Lloyd explained. "Not to mention I suck at it," he added sheepishly. "It seems I can use only wind and lightning based spells, but that's not too surprising."

"I see, then we should probably report to Tiga. Anyway, the idiot you saw earlier was Lee, and the girl over there is Hinata Hyuga," Naruto said. "Well anyway, welcome back to the village!" Sasuke nodded in agreement. Lloyd nodded as they all headed to the village.

"It's good to be back...It's good being back," Lloyd said, a lone tear fallen from his left eye. He finally could be around his friends, and not put them in any danger. There wouldn't be any darkness to haunt him. He could finally fulfill his dreams...

* * *

It had been five months since Lloyd's return...Six months before the Journey of Regeneration. Lloyd would be seventeen soon. Lloyd looked back on the journeys he went on with his team and Sheena. Sometimes he traveled with Hinata and Lee, that's when he noticed multiple things. Hinata was extremely shy, especially around Naruto. She was the heir to one of the most prestigious clans in Mizuho, the Hyuga. They had a bloodline called the Byakugan. It could see mana itself in people and nearly three hundred and sixty degrees. Lee could not use mana in the form of jutsu and most artes, he relied heavily on hand to hand combat, using nothing else. Lloyd was way more than impressed when he saw Lee's physical capability. He ran at even faster than Lloyd.

Naruto had finally found a weapon for himself to use his wind-based mana with. Trench Knives. Also he learn much more artes in hand to hand combat, outclassing Lloyd in the area. Also there was rumors of an improved version of his Rasengan, that would even put Lloyd's Storming Rage to shame.

Sasuke had improved a lot in sword fighting due to his now fully matured Sharingan. When Lloyd fought him again, it ended in a draw due to Sasuke predicting his movements with ease. However, Lloyd still outclassed him in ability. Not even thousands of Sasuke's jutsu could take down Lloyd. Sasuke's arsenal of artes and jutsu were huge as well, but he could only use a few effectively enough to keep around. His could form his Chidori through his katana.

Itachi had fallen seriously ill. The Mangekyou Sharingan had deathly effects on the user, destroying eyesight and the immunity system. Itachi was bad enough to the point to where he couldn't leave his bed. Sasuke is searching desperately looking for a cure. The exsphere seemed to help his condition in battle, but worsened it when it wasn't being used. Sasuke found one way but he refused it, saying he'd rather die. Sasuke would have to acquire the Mangekyou and give Itachi his eyes. But that wasn't what worried Sasuke. What really worried Sasuke was the requirements of the Mangekyou. He would have to know the pain of killing his best friend...Naruto would have to die. This dilemma almost caused Sasuke to betray the village and kill Naruto. When the opportunity arose, Sasuke couldn't bring himself to do it. When Lloyd found out that Sasuke actually considered doing this at one point, he almost beat Sasuke to death.

Then that gave Lloyd another question. How did Itachi acquire the Mangekyou Sharingan? When he asked, Sasuke growled, saying it wasn't his business. Now Lloyd was making preparations for the Journey of Regeneration. He really missed Colette and Genis, it had been two years since he had seen them. He was starting to feel bad about leaving without saying anything. He wondered how he would greet them. Also, he wanted to speak to Dante about some training. He had too many things to worry about, he couldn't remember the last time he relaxed. Lloyd wondered what he would do for the next half year, before it was finally time for the Tower of Salvation to appear in Sylvarant.

However, nothing bothered him so much as Sheena Fujibyashi. Lloyd was given stories and details of how miserable she was when he left. At first, he twitched, Lloyd never thought he would be needed by anyone. Then, he felt horrible for putting her through so much pain. However, he didn't regret leaving, Lloyd knew he was a danger to his friends while darkness had so much control over him. Leaving wasn't a choice, it was a necessity. Lloyd sighed, he knew that he was going to have to talk with Sheena later, he wasn't looking forward to it, today was a bad day for him.

The date was the day he had left the village of Iselia, furthermore, it was also the day he left the village of Mizuho. Lloyd usually wouldn't care to memorize the dates of such events, but Sheena had brought it up. Lloyd had been cursing himself for how much he's screwed up. Shaking his head, he made his way to Tiga, ready to report for his next mission. He entered the Chief's house and politely bowed to Tiga.

"Ah, Lloyd, good timing," Tiga greeted with his calm smile. Lloyd sighed.

"It was you who asked me to be here at this time," Lloyd scoffed annoyed with boredom. "So let me guess, more baby-sitting, maybe catching the neighborhood cat, or wait, to stop the endless massacre of puns and cliche's made in this damn world," Lloyd asked in an extremely bored tone. Tiga laughed.

"It's a time of peace Lloyd, life and death missions aren't always going to be available when you're bored," Tiga replied. Lloyd shook his head.

"I wasn't saying that. I was just commenting on how boring life has been. That doesn't mean that I like going out on missions where I kill people," Lloyd commented dryly. Lloyd never liked jokes about killing for fun, he met someone who obsessed over it and it left him scarred.

"Well Lloyd, this mission won't be so boring as you might think, there's been reports of a village the floats in the skies. Since you and Sheena have access to Rheiards, we'd like you to investigate," Tiga explained. Lloyd smirked.

"A village that flies huh, sounds interesting. Consider it done," Lloyd said. He was interested in seeing a flying village today. He certainly wondered how the sunset would look from the sky. He smiled at the thought. Lloyd had a few things he liked about nature, one was snow, the other was rain, and the last was the sunset. He enjoyed these things so much, he'd start to forget everything around him, and feel as if there was no Cruxis, the worlds weren't separated, exspheres weren't taking lives, he felt relaxed. Well, he was looking forward to today, so he made it back to Sheena's apartment. He looked into the rising sun and smiled, it was just another day with no worries. When he made it there, he looked through the window instead of walking through the front door. He then felt cold sharp metal pressed against his neck.

"Lloyd, you're skills are slipping," he heard his best friend say. Lloyd smirked. The said girl was standing behind him, exuding her usual air of confidence. Sheena grinned.

"Oh really, you should look at your neck," Lloyd commented. Sheena then looked down to see an explosive note at her neck. "All I have to do is wish for it to explode and we both die. I win this time Sheena," Lloyd said cooly. Sheena sighed, retracting her knife.

"Technically, I won since the note would of killed us both anyway," Sheena retorted. Lloyd shook his head as he crumpled up the note.

"Oh really? Well, actually, you still lose, because that note was a fake. You just let your guard down," Lloyd replied. Sheena smirked.

"I wasn't talking about that note," Sheena hinted while pointing at his stomach. Lloyd looked to see a real explosive note plastered on his clothing and sighed.

"Damn, I guess you really did win," Lloyd said. "That means the score is 346 to 7 now. With you still winning." Sheena smiled.

"I told you, you'll never outsmart me cause you're an idiot," Sheena replied. Lloyd grunted in reply.

"Anyway, we get to do this really cool mission today," Lloyd exclaimed childishly. "First, he look for this cool flying village with the Rheiards, then we get to see cool stuff and you get to write a report about it," Lloyd said exuberantly as always.

"Yeah, sounds cool. Wait, who said I'm going to write the report," Sheena asked. Lloyd gave a nervous laugh.

"Come on, you know what happened when I wrote the last one," Lloyd whined. Sheena glared at him.

"Are you kidding? Everybody was wondering why you drew horrible pictures of everything," Sheena answered. Lloyd laughed.

"Well, what can I say, me and paper don't get along, I think the papers hate me," Lloyd whispered. Sheena sighed.

"Well, I suppose we'll be needing the Rheiards, I'll go get them," Sheena said. Lloyd smirked because the were in the wing pack in his back pocket. He decided to mess with Sheena a bit.

"Okay, I'll be waiting out here," Lloyd said. Sheena turned back to the apartment and searched it throughly. Lloyd smiled when he heard furniture and items of sorts being thrown everywhere. Sheena was probably tearing up the place looking for something that he had. Finally, Sheena stepped back outside with an angry look on her face. She held her hand out expectantly. Lloyd grinned and decided to feign ignorance.

"What do you want," Lloyd asked curiously. Sheena continued to glare. Lloyd laughed sheepishly before handing her the wing pack. Lloyd loved that Sheena never hit him over the head like she did with many of their friends. He always wondered why though.

"Alright! So let's go already," Lloyd exclaimed. Sheena laughed.

"I'm making a bet to see how long your enthusiasm lasts today," Sheena said slyly. Lloyd sighed.

"Whatever. You're ruining it already," Lloyd muttered just loud enough for Sheena to hear. With that, they took off the Rheiards. Lloyd closed his eyes as the wind blew across his face. Lloyd never got tired of riding the Rheiards. Flying through the air, seeing half of the world he had sworn to restore. Lloyd sighed content with his chosen path. He was ready for anything to be thrown at him. No matter what would happen, he would fight so no more lives would be sacrificed. Fighting for his ideals, his flame of determination permanently burning, never dying out, even as it's embers faded into nothingness.

* * *

**Hey. I decided for another chapter as them being younger. Listen, sorry about the long update, I have a lot going on. Now, I'm going to ask which **_**four**_**people should join Lloyd and Sheena in Sylvarant, think of it like a poll. I'll have the character's votes posted next chapter. **_**This is the only chapter you get to vote so use it wisely.**_** You get to pick **_**four**_ **people from my crossovers. No more than that. The only people excluded from voting are Luke, Tear, Nero, Naruto, and Sasuke. Don't vote for them, I already have plans for them.** **Basically, your choices are Itachi, Anko, Cloud, Botta, Dante, and Presea**. **Also, any other **_**new**_** character I reveal this chapter can be voted for as well. Remember, it's your choice. **_**Four people only**_. **Remember that, now, I hope you all enjoyed.**


	23. Day of Prophecy

**Hey, hopefully, this update get's out sooner than my previous ones. Sorry it's taking so long. Anyway, I hope to receive some answers from the last chapter, I will be counting up the poll. Anyway, I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantast VII, Devil May Cry, and Naruto. Please enjoy.**

* * *

"_Nothingness, that's all I can see...For miles and miles, an unlimited distance away, there's nothing but nothingness. Everywhere I look, no friends, no family, no people, nothing. Never knowing again what happiness felt like, love, anger, regret, anxiousness, misery, hope, agony, never feeling anything ever again. It's like my existence had faded away into this...Am I dead? No...Even death would be better than this...What wouldn't be? I suppose I have a few regrets. And many questions to ask. Maybe...What I wouldn't give to leave this hell, I'd rather burn for an eternity in hell than sit here. A regret that I have...I had failed everyone, my friends, my family...her...Everybody. It's weird, being all alone, only my thoughts to keep my company. If anyone is hearing this...Then please, stop this from happening...I beg of you with the last of my sanity...Correct my mistakes..."_

* * *

_Lloyd stared at the tall angel, blonde hair and rainbow colored wings. Wearing majestic clothing making him out to be a saint. Looking upon this angel, he noticed something out of place. He saw the arrogance of the angel, his smirk and hatred, bleeding through his eyes. This was no angel, it was far from one. It would be better to have called this angel a demon._

_The angel's hand slowly found itself raising into the air above Lloyd, glowing with a light so majestic, even the Summon Spirit's would cry upon seeing it. Then, with a twisted snarl, he brought his hand down upon Lloyd. Effectively ending all signs of existence._

* * *

"Hmm...The plane of existence has started to flow calmly, despite your tampering with it," someone said impatiently. The scene changed to be a dark room, with three people surrounding a circular table. The table seemed to be decorated with images of the universe, stars and galaxies alike could be seen. The three people were clothed in black robes, wearing hoods. Each cloak had a blue and white phoenix insignia placed halfway above the waist on their backs.

"So it seems, it looks like the worlds have started to adapt to one another. Now, our ambitions can be completed. Soon the universe's ultimate power can finally be mine," another person, a man stated calmly. The last one growled.

"Don't you have enough power as it is," he asked annoyed. "You have the power to twist perception and bend reality to your will. You can transcend all that exists to nothingness. What could possibly be stronger than that?" The calm one smirked before turning to his annoyed comrade.

"The power to transcend time, space, and physical mass, is a power that I lack. I have found existence of such a power, and I will stop at nothing to have this power," the calm one explained. The other two broke out in laughter.

"Are you crazy? There's no power like that anywhere in the entire universe. How could you possibly hope to find something like that?"

"I already have. The Eternal Sword, the power of Origin, it is located near the very worlds we tampered with," the calm one explained. The other two men snorted.

"No such power exists on those pitiful excuses for planets."

"I beg to differ. Origin is in the depths of the Torrent Forest. The sword we search for cannot be wielded by me now. It can only be wielded by a half-elf, who has been acknowledged by Origin. However, there is a way around those conditions. But it would require careful planning. Yggdrasill can be easily defeated. It's the conditions of the sword that bother me. There is one way we can somehow trick Origin. All that needs to be done, is the tampering with Kvar's Angelus Project. Then, it will all play into our hands from there."

* * *

Lloyd bolted out of his sleep panting heavily. He wiped his forehead with his hand, removing the cold sweat that had paralyzed him with fear. Lloyd took a deep breath and sat up.

"Damn, so much for a good sleep. Stupid nightmares," Lloyd muttered. Lloyd jumped off the bed and sighed. He looked out the window at the moon and growled angrily. "Four in the mourning...Man, it's too early for this," Lloyd complained. He sighed. Today was the day...It would all begin. Now seventeen, Lloyd stood looking out his window, his heart running at too fast a pace for him to relax. He felt strangely paranoid, fearing for his life. Lloyd smacked himself over the forehead. "Get in the game," he muttered silently. He dressed himself in his fishnet undershirt and black jeans. Then he threw his battle torn red t-shirt on, followed up by hid black hooded cloak. He zipped it up, and threw on his hood. He made sure to hide every noticeable feature. Finally, he threw on black fingerless gloves that covered his hands and his exsphere. He jumped out the window and walked into the darkness. "Alright, now it's finally time..." With that, he had completely faded away from all sight, ready for whatever he needed to overcome.

* * *

Walking through the rain, was a man in purple clothing. Hiding his eyes with auburn colored hair that also spiked into the air and defied gravity. This man had an aura of coolness, always calm and judgmental. He stared impassively at the village before him as he continued to walk. Soon the clouds cleared revealing the shining sun and blue sky. He looked over the village he seemed to be heading to indifferently. "So it's time..." With those words uttered, he silently walked into the village.

* * *

Genis sighed as he looked at his textbook. He looked up too see his older sister Raine giving another of her lectures about the Journey of Regeneration. Today was the Day of Prophecy. The day he would lose his other friend...

Life in the village was horrible for Genis without Lloyd. Genis wasn't accepted among many of his classmates with the exception of Colette. Even then, Genis missed Lloyd, the adventures the used to have, even if it was a simple game of hide and go seek. Genis was aggravated with himself. He sighed, now he'd be all alone. He remembered what happened to Marble, the old lady at the Ranch. She had died when Lloyd had left the village. When Lloyd left, many of the prisoners tried to revolt, Marble caught in the middle. Genis looked into the sky, seeing that it had stopped raining, now the sky shined as bright as ever. Taking a small glance towards the Martel Temple, the sight of it suddenly blinded him as it enveloped in a bright light.

"Wh-whoa!" Everyone in the class suddenly turned to the windows and stared out them. Raine took a deep breath.

"Everyone settle down, it seems that the time for the oracle has come. I'll go check on the chapel," Raine said before bolting towards the door. Colette bolted out of her seat.

"Professor! I'll go with you," Colette exclaimed. Raine stopped at the door and turned to Colette, in a deep thought.

"Usually, I would say no, but it seems you'll have to come along this time," Raine replied. Colette smiled genuinely before running after Raine. They both then ran outside and towards the Martel Temple. Genis sat still in his seat for a good minute before growling.

"Fine, I'll go too," he muttered before bolting out of his seat and following suit. They ran towards the Martel Temple, avoiding every monster in their path. They could not fight with just the three of them, they did not have a decent fighter who knew close range combat. They made it to the temple. When they got there, they stopped and feared what they saw.

The priests were all unconscious, with no signs of any physical injuries, all neatly laid out in a circle, but that's only part of what bothered them. In the middle of the circle, stood a young adult, wearing a black hooded cloak that was zipped up the middle. Wearing his hood, he showed none of his features, effectively hiding his identity. The cloaked person had his back turned to them. He then turned to them, with a genuine smile plastered on his face. "Well, I have to say it's nice to see you guys," he said to them softly. His smile then hardened into a frown. "Chosen One...I want to see how strong you and your companions are. I'm looking forward to fighting you." With that, the cloaked person stood in a fighting stance. "Let's see what you got!"

Without warning, the cloaked boy ran at them. Pulling back his fist, he through a swing at Colette. Colette closed her eyes and cried out. She stood there, with the cloaked boy's fist an inch away from her face. The boy sighed. "You're kidding, right? You don't close your eyes, you dodge. I could of killed you twenty times already," the boy complained.

"Fireball!" Three fire balls flew towards the boy. The boy smirked and jumped into the air. He then spun in the air at sonic speeds.

"Wind Rave!" The fireballs were repelled by the wind of the boy's spinning. Genis blinked in surprise. Then the boy landed on the ground. "It was good of you to try and attack while I'm distracted. But you should know that your spell was far too slow to hit me. Time it accordingly and catch me off guard." The boy then turned to Raine and stared at her curiously. "Aren't you going to help them?" Raine sighed.

"I have no offensive spells," she replied. The boy smacked his forehead.

"Geez, what have you all been doing? You're the Chosen, you should expect danger and train for it. The only person out of all of you who did anything was the child. That's horrible. What if something was going to happen. Was the Chosen going to idly die," the boy asked them. "Hell, you're all better off with me killing you now." Everyone's eyes widened in shock.

Then, a shockwave that slid along the ground traveled towards the boy. The boy's eyes widened before he side-stepped the shockwave. He then pulled out a sword to block one that was aimed at his head. He stood face to face with a man with auburn hair, clothed in purple. The boy smirked. They jumped apart and circled each other. Finally, the boy smirked and jumped into the air. The boy took out a kunai knife and threw it. The purple clothed man caught the kunai and stared as the boy landed on the ground.

"Hmm...Reflexes, strength, high level of mana...typical bad-ass-ness. You're pretty good," the boy commented. "Let's see how long you'll last."

"Foolish boy," the man in purple muttered. "Lightning!" A bolt of lightning struck the boy sending volts running through his body. The boy fell to his knees and panted for air. Then, the boy laughed.

"Man, able to use spells too. Looks like I have to watch out for that next time," the boy commented. Then, the man clothed in purple disappeared in a flash and reappeared behind the boy, sword at his neck.

"Your overconfidence lead to your defeat, I suppose it is you who needs teaching," the man clothed in purple lectured. The boy blinked.

"_What the hell? That was fast! I didn't even see him move! Did he use mana to do that," _the boy asked himself. He was just utterly defeated, he didn't even make the man break a sweat. _"Damn, looks like I need to make an escape," _the boy thought.

"Now, I will ask you why you came to attack the Chosen. If need be, I will remove your life," the auburn stated coldly. The cloaked boy smirked. He just changed his mind, he was willing to fight now.

"You want to know why I attacked the Chosen," Lloyd stated rather than asked. _"Looks like it's time to unveil my next technique."_

The boy let out a surge of mana that threw the purple warrior away. "Breakdown Dance!" The boy zipped towards the purple warrior and unsheathed another sword, wielding two of them. He let out a flurry of slashes and thrusts to no avail. He then jumped up into the air and slammed his foot into the purple warrior's face. His swords began to glow in a blood red color as his speed tripled. "Get outta here!" The boy then slammed his swords into the shield of his opponent. The boy blinked in surprise. _"He blocked it!?! And worse, it didn't even faze him at all,: _the boy thought in disbelief. _"Shit, I have to get out of here before my cover is blown!" _With that, the boy fled in defeat. The purple clad swordsman did not follow. Genis, Raine, and Colette could only stared in disbelief.

"It seems he decided to retreat," the man muttered.

"Wh-whoa! Who are you," Genis asked in awe. The man sighed before turning to the two elves and the Chosen.

"My name is Kratos Aurion. A traveling mercenary. I heard there was trouble and immediately responded. Are you the Chosen's group," Kratos asked. Colette nodded cheerfully.

"Yep, that's me," she replied. Kratos sighed.

"You're going to need my help. If you can pay me, I will take on the job of protecting the Chosen," Kratos told them. Raine sighed.

"This is a matter that can't be resolved until we get back to the village. Until then, will you be of assistance," Raine asked him. Kratos sighed in return.

"It's a deal then," he replied cooly before walking in to the Martel Temple.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...**_

The cloaked boy reached the desert after his escape. He removed his hood and gasped for air. It was revealed that he was Lloyd. "Damn, who the hell was that," Lloyd asked angrily. "He beat me so damn easily," he muttered. Lloyd stood up straight and looked behind him. "Yuan knows something that I don't. Looks like I need to reunite with Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata and pay Yuan a visit." With that Lloyd walked towards the Renegade Base in the desert.

* * *

_**Earlier that day...**_

"_So, you have all come," Yuan said. "I suppose the mission is self-explanatory, but due to Lloyd's incompetence, I shall explain anyway." Lloyd scowled at Yuan._

"_Screw you," Lloyd replied. Yuan smirked._

"_Lloyd, Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata will slow down the Chosen's progress as she journeys throughout Sylvarant. Make sure she is safe and completing the journey. Sheena, Lee, Zelos, and Presea will be gathering the pacts of the Summon Spirits. To help with this, I hired a mercenary. You are to meet Dante Sparda at the Rheiard Hangar. Any questions," Yuan asked. Lloyd scowled loudly._

"_Is that everything. What about Yggdrasill? Couldn't he interfere," Lloyd asked. Yuan smirked._

"_If he does, you'll find out," Yuan replied cooly._

* * *

_**Back to reality...**_

**That's the end of the chapter. Sorry that it took so long to complete. School is a major pain. I just found out that Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World was released. YAY! But I have no money to get it. DAMN! Well, thanks for reading and please review.**


	24. Night of Prophecy

**Hey what's up you all? I decided that since my fanfiction is taking long amounts of time for me to update that I would start posting days up on my profile when you can expect the next chapter. I'm sorry about the long time it takes me but with school and finals coming up, I don't have a whole lot of free time on my hands. So anyway, I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Final Fantasy VII, Naruto, and Devil May Cry.**

* * *

Luke fon Fabre was merely staring off into the blue sky filled with the light of the sun with a crooked smile running across his calm features. He noticed that over the period of travel across the universe, his hair had once again increased to his original length. Luke and Tear had received a mission from the leader of Yulia City thousands of years into the future. Upon discovery, there was an Eighth Fonon, a fonon that compromised of the elements time and space. Normally, the fonon was unaffected and uncontrollable, but in the known universe, there had been a disturbance with this new fonon. Any disturbance to time and space could very well result in the destruction of the universe itself. As the Scion of Lorelei, Luke fit the task upon himself to stop the disturbance.

Now, Luke was on an entirely different planet, searching for the disturbance. Luckily, Luke could tell when and where the new fonon was used or not, and it pointed out to the planet he stood upon. However, there was more to the planet then he was supposed to know. The planet Sylvarant existed very close to another planet. Both planets seemed like they were too small to support their own mass. Something was definitely amiss, and Luke couldn't tell what it was.

"Well, I suppose that's not the problem right now," Tear mentioned. "We should be looking for the disturbance." Luke merely shrugged.

"Isn't there a town nearby? We need to see how this place works. We don't know if the people here can even understand us or if we can eat any of the food here. Besides, if there was really some sort of object controlling the Eighth Fonon, then what do we do with it," Luke asked her. Tear sighed.

"We don't have any sufficient information. Right now we need to meet the people here and gather information," Tear replied. Luke shook his head.

"This is going to be really annoying," Luke muttered.

* * *

_In the Temple of Martel…_

Kratos wiped the insides of the monsters he defeated off his sword with a sigh of annoyance. The children and teacher he had been defending hardly had any experience with battle or monsters. He found himself in tough situations with defending them from potentially deadly attacks almost constantly. Plus Colette did not think before acting, winding up in very foolish traps and situations, Genis talked as if he knew everything, and Raine wouldn't stop screaming at the both of them.

"For the love of Martel, what have I gotten myself into," Kratos complained.

* * *

_In the desert south of Iselia…_

Lloyd was feeling very angry at the current moment. He fled from Iselia after being humiliated in battle, and then started searching for the Renegade Base only to find a rabid giant sandworm he barely fought off, only to be poisoned by a weak scorpion. He then discovered his lack of items and cursed out Yuan's name. Luckily, Triet was just ahead and he had sufficient gald for an antidote and a night at the Inn.

"Man today just sucks," Lloyd complained. All Lloyd wanted to do was sleep and beat the hell out of Yuan. Reaching Triet, he rushed to the item stand and demanded a potion. Looking slightly insane, he unsheathed his swords and started yelling at the poor person running the stand.

"I WANT A FREAKING POTION! WHERE THE HELL IS ONE?" Lloyd's screaming was induced by poison. The people of Triet stared at the half-crazed Lloyd.

"Wh-what kind," the man at the stand stuttered.

"I'M FREAKING POISONED AND I WANT A PANACEA BOTTLE," Lloyd screamed out. The man let out a very high pitched squeal and handed Lloyd the bottle quickly. Lloyd chugged the bottle quickly and promptly passed out. The man sighed in relief and dragged Lloyd behind the stand.

"Thank Martel, I thought I was going to die here," the man muttered. Lloyd silently slept for the next two hours, occasionally muttering what sounded like death threats to Yuan. He had a crooked maniacal smile on his face, scaring off any customer that saw Lloyd behind the stand. Finally, Lloyd woke up groggily with a loud yawn.

"Thanks man," Lloyd said before sitting up and sheathing his swords. He jumped to his feet and left Triet, leaving behind a population of scared and confused people.

After about twenty minutes of travel through the desert, he ran into a familiar group of people. The people were in his group of stalling the Chosen of Mana. Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata all stood before him, each in their respective shinobi gear.

"Nice to run into all of you here," Lloyd commented dryly. "So where the hell where you all at earlier?"

"Well, you stormed out of the base eagerly without waiting for any of us. There were many preparations and warnings that took place while you were gone," Sasuke replied. "Unlike a loser like you, we actually found some interesting information. We were warned about this guy Kratos. The report says he has untold power and skill in battle. Yuan told us that none of us would be able to defeat him." Lloyd growled.

"That would probably be the guy who kicked my ass earlier. Damn him. How are we supposed to slow down the Chosen at this rate," Lloyd asked himself. Hinata gulped.

"We-well, maybe finding some way to cripple Kratos or the Chosen would be the best way to go," Hinata answered barely heard by anyone. Lloyd sighed.

"By the way, where's Sheena and her group," Lloyd asked coolly.

"Well, since there aren't any seals released here in Sylvarant, there won't be much traveling for Sheena's group. They're still at the base," Naruto answered.

"Well, right now, the best thing to do is to look for different ways on how we're going to defeat Kratos. I don't know about you guys but he's not getting away with kicking my ass," Lloyd exclaimed. Naruto cheered out in agreement while Sasuke sighed.

"I suppose he sounds like a challenging opponent. I guess I can't wait," Sasuke replied. Poor Hinata was the only person who didn't agree with the idea of seeking out Kratos, but went along with it for the sake of her team.

"Alright then! Here we come Kratos," Lloyd yelled out enthusiastically.

* * *

_Back at the Martel Temple…_

Kratos sneezed quite loudly causing Raine and Genis to start twitching. Before them at the moment was Remiel handing the task of the Chosen to Colette and presenting her with a Cruxis Crystal. Kratos' sneeze had rudely interrupted this ceremony.

"My apologies. Please do continue," Kratos said quietly. _"Somebody must be talking about me again…"_

_Outside of Izoold…_

* * *

Deformed creatures started to appear in puddles of blood and cried out in glee to the once blue now cloudy sky. Whispering tales of misery and death to humanity, their existence spelled out doom for all who dared to oppose them. However, amidst the chaos, stood a hero, clothed in a red trench cloak, holding a large broadsword decorated with a black skull for a hilt. His silver hair blew with the wind and his pale blue eyes spoke of undeterred confidence. As the creatures glared and cursed at this man in their language, the hero had but one thing to say with a wide cocky smirk.

"Let's rock!" The creatures charged from their positions with scythes and blades for arms and desperately tried to tear apart the cocky hero only to be torn to pieces and shredded down by his awesomeness. Minutes later, in the area, no life stood besides the Son of Sparda.

"Well, now that's taken care of, I believe a strawberry sundae is in order," Dante remarked. And with that, he left, leaving behind no traces with the exception of the dead scattered creatures.

_Renegade Base…_

* * *

Sheena sighed as she looked down at the map of the desert. The Seal of Fire was the Chosen's next destination, therefore, Sheena's as well.

"This is taking too long," Sheena remarked. She wished the Chosen would hurry up and release the seals in Sylvarant so she could make the pacts. Plus hanging around Zelos was starting to get on her nerves, Presea and Cloud are too quiet, and Itachi's condition was getting worse when he was not using the exsphere. Sheena was anxious, annoyed, and worried sick all at once. Then Lloyd was recklessly assaulting the Chosen's group. _"I need to relax if I'm going to succeed in this mission. Deep breaths," _Sheena thought. Soon after, she fell into a deep sleep.

_Triet Desert…_

* * *

Lloyd and his group had decided to make their journey north towards Iselia, the Village of Oracles. Lloyd knew that he was no match for Kratos, the man he was defeated by. However, now he had friends to back him up, there was no way Kratos could fight all four of them off. Plus, they didn't need to injure Kratos, just simply halt their progress somehow. So, Lloyd prepared for a huge fight, despite Hinata's pleas for calming down and logically finding an easier way to handle things. Naruto agreed with Lloyd whole-heartedly and prepped himself for this fight as well. Sasuke did not show it, but the thought of a strong opponent excited him, so he had no complaints.

Thinking somewhat logically, the Chosen and her companions would wait until early the next mourning to leave on her journey. Therefore, Lloyd decided he would attempt to kidnap Colette this evening in her sleep. The only obstacle he foresaw would be Kratos. Lloyd had a strong feeling that fate was pulling him closer to Kratos and it was only a matter of time before they fought again.

It was past midnight when the four arrived in the village. Lloyd shook his head.

"Iselia…It's been three years," Lloyd commented. When he had traveled to the Church of Martel, he had run around the village to avoid unnecessary confrontation. Now he was back, in a place he once called his home, a place he was now forbidden to step in. Lloyd sighed before covering his head in his dark hood. Lloyd decided that he had something to do and he wouldn't let his foolish sentiments get in his way. Nobody spoke to Lloyd after that, it was only this mission that was important.

Donning on their hoods, the four shinobi walked towards the village's gate. Of course, there was the usual two guards with pitchforks.

"Who goes there," one of them asked fearfully staring at the four figures. Sasuke sighed before appearing behind them and knocking them out. Lloyd walked past this emotionlessly. He headed towards the Chosen's house, taking few looks at the now rebuilt village. Remorse filled his mind every time he bothered to take a peek out of his hood. Lloyd could no longer look and only stared at the ground. Upon reaching the Chosen's house, Lloyd jumped up to the second floor balcony where Colette sleeps. He opened the window silently and stared at Colette's sleeping figure. Slowly walking towards her, Lloyd started to feel every memory, happiness, sadness, Lloyd remembered it all. Lloyd was finally standing next to the bed. Just then, he felt a cold blade at his neck. Lloyd knew who it was.

"I would advise you to step away from the Chosen. I am also aware of the three people you brought with you, surrounding the village," Kratos spoke coolly and quietly. Lloyd smirked.

"You caught me off guard last time. However, you just fell right into my trap," Lloyd replied quietly. Just then, Lloyd had disappeared into thin air. Kratos blinked before being tackled out the window and onto the ground beneath them. Kratos quickly regained his balance to see Lloyd's fist right in his face. Kratos took the blow and was sent flying away from the house. Kratos regained composure to see Lloyd with his swords drawn and ready to fight. Just then, Naruto and Sasuke landed next to Lloyd, all three of them removing their cloaks. Lloyd hoped it wouldn't come to this, but he knew that the village's hatred for him would have to wait. "I'll have you know, I won't lose a second time," Lloyd exclaimed.

Naruto created a clone and started charging mana in his right hand. Slowly, a blue sphere of energy formed in his hand. Sasuke at the same time formed through multiple hand-signs and held out his tiger hand-sign.

"Fire-Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Kratos jumped high into the air to dodge the fireballs. He met Naruto in the air, ready to impale Kratos with his destructive sphere.

"Rasengan!" Kratos quickly put his shield in front blocking the destructive force of Naruto's attack. He landed on the ground face to face with Lloyd.

"Hurricane Thrust!" Kratos barely smacked Lloyd's sword away with his shield in time to dodge another fireball Sasuke sent flying at him. Lloyd quickly followed in pursuit as he pulled back his blades. "Double Demon Fang!" Kratos jumped straight up into the air. Naruto and Sasuke jumped right after him, both of their finishing Jutsu in their hands.

"Rasengan!"

"Chidori!"

Kratos quickly grabbed Naruto's wrist and slammed his Rasengan into Sasuke's Chidori. Then he quickly jumped away using Naruto as mid-air leverage and escaped the explosion caused by the two jutsu. Naruto and Sasuke were sent flying in opposite directions into the ground, both of them unconscious. Lloyd scowled.

"_This guy is way too strong to be from here. Just who the hell is he," _Lloyd asked himself. _"Looks like I have no other choice. I hate using this power…" _White aura emanated from the exsphere on Lloyd's left hand and surrounded him. It flowed freely, foretelling of it's nearly limitless power. Kratos looked at Lloyd shock clearly expressed across his facial features.

"Th-that exsphere," Kratos stuttered out. Lloyd eyes faded into a lighter color, glowing through the night.

"So, you've noticed. My exsphere isn't exactly normal," Lloyd stated coolly. "It's a memento from my mother, when she died. Because of how it was made, it's really special... Well, I don't know why I'm talking to you about this, so let's finish this." Lloyd unsheathed his second sword.

"What is your name," Kratos asked curiously.

"Give me your name, and I'll give you mine," Lloyd replied. Kratos sighed.

"Kratos Aurion."

"Lloyd Irving."

Kratos visibly twitched, though barely noticeable. Lloyd's gazed upon the warrior before him, depicting a way to defeat him. _"Demonic Rush!" _More of the light mana flowed to Lloyd's legs.

"I won't forgive you for hurting my friends!" With that, Lloyd rushed towards Kratos, preparing for their battle. Completely unnoticed, a pair of eyes could be seen watching the duel, sinisterly smiling, anticipating every clash of blades.

* * *

**That's the end. Sorry it took so long. I hope to update more soon. Later!**


	25. Returning Home

**Hello everyone! I know you're thinking long time no update. Well, all I have to say is sorry…Anyway enjoy this chapter! I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Naruto, Final Fantasy VII, Devil May Cry, or Tales of the Abyss. XD

* * *

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Lloyd was once again on the offensive now he had unleashed his exsphere's power. Kratos had little difficulty blocking each of Lloyd's strikes, even with his enhanced speed. Lloyd smirked starting to enjoy this battle despite his friends' defeat. "Fierce Demon Fang!" Kratos jumped to his left, dodging the arte and started casting.

"Fireball!" Lloyd spun one of his swords and deflected the fireballs. Kratos shook his head as he casted another spell. "Lightning!" Lloyd smirked and threw his sword into the air, resulting in it being stuck. Lloyd then caught his electrified sword and grinned.

"Is that all you got," Lloyd taunted before swinging the affected sword, sending a lightning bolt at Kratos. Kratos merely raised his shield and deflected the blow effortlessly.

"It seems that you were holding back before," Kratos spoke emotionlessly. "However, that alone will not change the outcome of this battle, admit your defeat." Lloyd laughed.

"I still have a long ways to go before I admit defeat," Lloyd replied. "Let's see if you can defeat me twice. Demon Fang: Overlimit!" A large shockwave moved towards Kratos. Kratos' eyes narrowed before jumping up into the air over the shockwave. "Tempest!" Lloyd was somersaulting towards Kratos, blades extended out. Kratos raised his shield, stopping Lloyd's momentum, and then kicking his gut. Lloyd fell towards the ground and quickly landed on his feet. Lloyd quickly raised his sword to block a strike from Kratos. "Nice counter," Lloyd complemented.

"Your predictability led to your downfall. Bringing me to the air with your first arte and then attacking from below when I couldn't block was skillful, but you forget that I carry a shield and can maneuver it much easier than most swords," Kratos explained. Meanwhile, Lloyd was silently gathering mana for a spell. Lloyd removed the lock his blade had on Kratos' and jumped backwards.

"Wind Blade!" Kratos merely raised his shield and blocked the impending spell. Lloyd pondered his next move. _"Damn it, he has a counter for everything! Well, I still have a few more tricks, and if they don't work…then it's time to whip out the big guns," _Lloyd thought coolly.

"I usually wait until after capturing my enemies for information, but an exception is in order if you plan on escaping like before. What are your intentions," Kratos asked. Lloyd smirked.

"Now I think about it, what are my intentions," Lloyd asked himself nearly causing Kratos to fall over and lose composure. "I suppose I'm just looking for a good fight," Lloyd answered honestly.

"You aren't after the Chosen," Kratos asked.

"Colette was one of my best friends ever since I was little…I wanted to see her again, how strong she's become. But when I met you, I had a desire to fight you. I just want to be stronger, so I can protect everyone from the Desians," Lloyd answered honestly. This much was true. "I knew you were strong, I had to fight you. If I hadn't, then I wouldn't be able to test my strength against anyone strong enough to defeat me." Kratos shook his head.

"Then you should of asked to spar," Kratos replied. Lloyd laughed.

"But then you would have held back, that's why I pretended to attack Colette, so you wouldn't hesitate to kill me or capture me," Lloyd explained.

"I suppose it's somewhat logical…What are your intentions afterwards," Kratos asked getting to the point. Lloyd smiled.

"I want to join you guys on this journey. I will do anything to protect Colette," Lloyd answered with a soft genuine smile. "I know I may seem young, but I think I can be of great help to her." Kratos sighed.

"Your group is great in size. You would be a hindrance to the Chosen." Lloyd shook his head.

"My group wouldn't be coming along, plus I can take care of myself. I won't ask for your supplies," Lloyd replied.

"This journey will be dangerous. Good children need to stay home," Kratos replied. Lloyd resisted the urge to retort angrily and decided to say something smart instead.

"Gotcha, then I'll just follow you on my own," Lloyd replied cockily. Kratos smiled.

"You're a stubborn kid, fine, do as you wish." With that Kratos sheathed his sword and withdrew his shield. Lloyd grinned.

"I'll do just that." Lloyd sheathed his swords as well. Kratos turned and walked towards Colette's house. Lloyd decided to leave the villager's before attracting the villagers' attention even more than he had before. He realized that the many that had awakened hadn't recognized him…Then again; they probably were keeping their distance. Lloyd picked up his cloak and put it on. He zipped it up and raised his hood, covering his facial features. He saw that Naruto and Sasuke were faking their unconsciousness and decided to retreat to a secluded location to meet with him. "Guess they really trusted my abilities." Lloyd decided on a new plan in the spur of the moment. He was pretty sure that he could attract some powerful new allies this way.

Lloyd was outside of the village to see Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata all waiting for him patiently.

"So what's the new plan Lloyd," Sasuke asked coolly.

"I will be joining them on the Journey of Regeneration along with one of you. However, after every seal that is released, you will be switching off. Hinata, you will be a messenger between us and Yuan. Whoever isn't accompanying me will assist. Any objections," Lloyd asked. They all shook their heads. "Naruto, you stay with me then. Sasuke and Hinata, you should report back to base tomorrow after resting at the House of Salvation." Everyone nodded once again. Hinata was the only one who disagreed seeing as she would be apart from Naruto, but she would never voice it out loud.

"Well then, I guess I'll catch you later Lloyd, Naruto," Sasuke said as a gesture of goodbye.

"B-be safe on your journey," Hinata said quietly.

"You bet Hinata! We'll kick some ass for sure," Naruto exclaimed wearing his wide grin that stretched from ear to ear. Hinata couldn't help but smile at Naruto's enthusiasm.

"Hey, stop flirting and go already," Lloyd said offhandedly. Hinata blushed while Naruto scowled at Lloyd. After this episode, they went their separate ways. Naruto sighed before looking at his friend.

"Well, what do we do now," he asked curiously. Lloyd pointed Naruto to the shop which also ran as an inn. Lloyd then took his leave, through the Iselia Forest.

It had been three years since Lloyd set foot in this forest. He was raised here by his father for so long. He met Sheena when he defended her from that black skeleton, which he still couldn't remember defeating. He trained relentlessly in this forest. He sighed and closed his eyes when he passed by the human ranch. He decided to ignore his memories with the Desians. Finally, Lloyd reached his house, to be immediately greeted by Noishe.

"Hey boy, didja miss me," Lloyd asked him. Noishe pounced on him, furiously licking his face. Lloyd laughed quietly before getting up and stroking the back of his ear. "Good boy."

Lloyd then took the opportunity to look around. He saw that the terrace was still intact. He effortlessly jumped to the terrace and landed quietly and opened the door to his room. He peered inside to see that absolutely nothing changed. Everything was still in place. He smiled affectionately at the pair of dwarven clothes his father made for him when he was younger. He loved wearing them much more than the clothes he wore now. He looked downstairs before shaking his head. He could hear his father's snoring. He was a pretty heavy sleeper. Lloyd smiled as he stepped down each step, his hand tracing along the wall. Lloyd never realized how much he missed his home. He felt more memories enter his mind as he fondly smiled. His felt a portrait of himself and Dirk when he was seven and smiled. Dirk was an outstanding parent. Lloyd could only think about how he suddenly left without any word. He felt bad and wondered how his father took it. Lloyd knew his journey wasn't over and he knew that a confrontation would probably make things harder and decided to turn and leave. Just as Lloyd was opening the door…

"Leavin so soon son," a ragged voice asked. Lloyd turned around to see his adoptive father and smiled.

"Didn't want to bother you," Lloyd replied.

"Baloney, it helps to see ya here son. How yeh been doin," Dirk asked. Lloyd decided a long conversation was in order so he got comfortable.

"I returned from my journey across the world. I've been getting stronger to face the Desians and protect Colette," Lloyd said. Dirk noticed the way Lloyd spoke, he was much more mature compared to how he knew him before.

"I see. So you better be stayin oughta trouble," Dirk spoke. Lloyd smiled.

"Actually, I can't seem to avoid trouble. However, that'll probably end after Colette completes the journey." Lloyd didn't feel the slightest bit uncomfortable talking to his adoptive father. Dirk sighed.

"I got the message from that lass you left with," Dirk trailed off. "How is she?"

"She's been good. She's really helped me a lot after…you know," Lloyd replied. Dirk nodded. "I think I've grown a lot since she showed me the world. I've seen many people suffering and I decided I couldn't just sit and do nothing about it. So I haven't been able to respond."

"Yer going with Colette to save the world." It wasn't a question. Dirk was making a statement. Lloyd nodded.

"Yeah, I know that I can put an ease to everyone's suffering by helping Colette," Lloyd replied genuinely.

"You've grown son," Dirk said feeling pride.

"Dwarven Vow Number Two: Never Abandon Someone In Need," Lloyd recited. Dirk smiled.

"I have something for yeh, I had a feelin you'd return," Dirk said. He went over to the kitchen and grabbed some clothing. It was the exact same dwarven clothes he wore when he left the village except in his size. Lloyd smiled.

"I'll be back down, I'm going change." Lloyd went upstairs and quickly changed out of his current attire. Lloyd decided to keep his clothes due to stealth incase he'd need it. After donning on his favorite clothes, he stretched his arms and legs and grinned at his many buttons, belts, and suspenders. He ran his fingers through his hair noticing that he had a new pair of gloves as well. He put them on and smirked. Lloyd looked at his left hand, or rather his exsphere before shaking his head. "Everything is the exact same as before," he commented. He stepped down the stairs and smiled.

"A perfect fit," Dirk commented. Lloyd nodded.

"Yeah, I can't wait to break these boots in," Lloyd replied.

"It's gettin late, we best be off to bed, you have a long journey ahead of you." Lloyd nodded before heading to his room. He threw himself on the bed and was quick to fall asleep. Dirk had walked in afterwards and smiled. He ruffled his fingers through Lloyd's hair gently before heading off to his own room.

"Goodnight son."

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Two Desians were running through the hallways of their vast ranch. They reached the control room and immediately fell into a bow.

"Sir! I am here to report activity in the village. It seems that Lloyd has finally appeared," one of them stated. Forcystus smirked.

"While that is interesting, you have interrupted my meeting with our guests," Forcystus replied. Taking the hint, the Desians quickly left. "I apologize for the inconvenience. Lloyd is the person behind tampering with this power that you see. Upon looking, it appeared that Luke and Tear stood in the room.

"So to stop this disaster, we need to defeat this 'Lloyd'," Luke responded.

"Yes, he'll be heading to the desert to the South, you should be able to intercept them tomorrow," Forcystus explained. Luke grinned.

"Good, then it seems like we'll be able to fix this problem ahead of time," Tear replied.

"The sphere in his left hand is what allows him to tamper with this power. You must retrieve it and bring it back here. It's called an exsphere and it's power cannot continue to be used. I believe everyone is in danger. Will you help," Forcystus asked "_genuinely_". Luke nodded.

"Of course, we'll beat this Lloyd to a pulp and drag him back here," Luke stated coolly.

"We are in your debt." With that, Forcystus grinned knowing that he would have his hands on the Angelus Project very soon. _"Soon, the Five Grand Cardinals will bow to me!"

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**Sorry it took so long. I had a major plot error and I couldn't think of a way to fix it, so unfortunately I'll be retyping my story from scratch starting here. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and have a nice day! Before I go however, I would like to ask you all what you like about my writing and dislike, (Besides the disdainfully obvious long amounts of time it takes me to update).  
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	26. Returning Darkness

**Hello my extremely loyal fans! I would like to thank all of you who would still read this even after my atrociously long amount of time I took to update. Anyway, I would like to be a frequent updater and actually finish a story. I don't own Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss, Naruto, Final Fantasy VII, and Devil May Cry. Enjoy and thank you for the reviews but seriously, is there **_**anything **_**I could improve on? I would really like to know.

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Lloyd could not help but wake up with a smile on his face. Last night was probably the only night in the past three years that he could sleep peacefully, despite the huge journey he would embark on today. He knew that the Chosen probably left bright and early so he would have to catch up with the others. He stood up and dressed in his usual dwarven clothing that he neglected to wear due to his growth. He smirked as he slipped the gloves over his hands.

"_Alright, let's rock!" _Lloyd packed his cloak and his shirt he wore before. He then put his shorts into his pack; he knew that his shinobi gear could still be useful when it came to stealth and mobility. Lloyd then took a long look at himself in the mirror. _"Just like old times," _he mentally commented. He walked down the stairs and slipped out the front door, knowing his father was outside and by his mother's gravestone. He stopped behind Dirk.

"I see you're leavin," Dirk said.

"Yeah, I have to protect Colette on this journey," Lloyd replied. Dirk welled up with pride.

"You've grown into a fine young man Lloyd. Ya better be careful," Dirk stated.

"I'll see you later, Dad," Lloyd answered as he turned around. Dirk watched Lloyd as he walked away. Noishe quickly followed after Lloyd and they left the forest together.

"_Be careful, my son."_

Lloyd arrived at the gate to Iselia with Noishe on his trail. Lloyd nodded towards the guards who immediately recognized him. They did not try to stop him but instead muttered a greeting. Lloyd raised an eyebrow. He saw Colette's grandmother standing out in the open, speaking with Genis. Lloyd smiled as he walked towards them. Genis turned to look at Lloyd, surprise clearly evident on his face.

"Lloyd? Is it really you," Genis asked excitedly.

"Depends, who's asking," Lloyd replied cockily. Without any warning, Genis lunged at Lloyd and embraced him.

"It's really you! When the loud blonde kid said he knew you, I didn't believe him. But it's really you," Genis exclaimed. Lloyd shook his head; it was good seeing his best friend after so many years.

"So why aren't you with Colette," Lloyd asked curiously.

"I'm not old enough," Genis muttered. Lloyd grinned.

"Well, whatever. You can come with me," Lloyd replied, "and if Kratos has a problem with it, then he can take it up with me," Lloyd replied. Genis looked at Lloyd in shock.

"You know Kratos," Genis asked. Lloyd nodded.

"Yeah, well, go pack your stuff and I'll get my other friend Naruto. In twenty minutes, we leave, sound good," Lloyd asked.

"But Raine will kill me when she finds out," Genis answered. Lloyd's grin widened.

"Now is now, later is later," Lloyd remarked a phrase he hasn't used in a while. Genis sighed.

"You haven't changed a bit," he stated.

Genis ran to his house and quickly started packing. Lloyd turned to look at Phiadra.

"Anyway, how has it been around here," Lloyd asked.

"The mayor restored the treaty with the Desians in exchange for handing you over to the Desians when you would show up," the old woman answered. Lloyd realized that's why he wasn't kicked out.

"I see. Well, I have to get Naruto so we can catch up to Colette," Lloyd said.

"I pray that Martel will guide you," Phiadra replied. Lloyd gave her a serious glance before looking away.

"_She talks to me as if I never left…" _Lloyd simply shrugged. _"Anyway, looks like I'll be ambushed by one of the villagers if I don't leave soon. I might as well look for Naruto." _Lloyd smiled at the thought of waking up the hyperactive blonde shinobi. Out of everyone he met in Tethe'alla, he considered Naruto the closest to him. The usually hyper shinobi understood what it felt like to be the outcast in his village. He also understood what it felt like to carry a heavy burden that he didn't ask for.

Lloyd arrived at the in with a smirk on his face. He could see the stares of the villagers that gawked at him with wide open mouths. The boy knew they were probably commenting on how stupid he was for showing up somewhere he was banished from. Lloyd heard multiple footsteps outside of the inn and sighed. He knew that the village's pathetic militia was probably waiting for him outside.

"Oi, Naruto. Let's get moving," Lloyd shouted through the inn. He heard an annoyed groan, meaning he'd be ready in about five minutes. That was enough time to deal with the militia and expose the mayor for the idiot he was. He decided that he should deal with this how Sasuke would and just take them all out wearing nothing but a bored scowl on his face. He went outside to see the militia.

"Lloyd, you shall come with us under the orders of the mayor!" Lloyd's eyes narrowed, his emotion betraying his lack of interest. He didn't deign it necessary to speak to people that were so far below him. Suddenly, Lloyd burst out laughing which the villager's didn't know how to respond to.

"_Man, Sasuke acts like a little emo kid," _Lloyd thought. "Anyway, let's hurry up, I got crap to do," Lloyd said coolly as he pulled out his swords. The militia couldn't gather the courage to move or even speak. Lloyd sighed. "Fine, I'll go first," Lloyd spoke hinting at a bored tone of voice. _"Let's see, there's about seventy three of them…I suppose I could go without any artes." _ Lloyd rushed to the middle of the plaza with two people running after him. Lloyd suddenly stopped and spun around with swords in hand and struck the two with the blunt ends of his swords. _"Two down." _Three more ran at him producing loud battle cries. Lloyd then fell backwards onto his hands and kicked two of them before pushing away from the ground, putting himself high in the air. Performing a flip, he landed in the middle of a group of enemies. Lloyd then ducked under the thrust of a pitchfork. He responded with multiple swings of his swords. The militia was knocked back one by one by Lloyd's seemingly endless barrage. Lloyd then spun around and extended his arms. He took out two people that surrounded him. _"That's thirty-four down." _Lloyd then sheathed his swords before running towards the remaining twenty-nine soldiers left.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Sheena stared at the Ossa Trail that led through the mountains. She sighed remembering her team's mission handed to them by Yuan earlier.

"_You requested my presence Yuan," Sheena asked._

"_I have a mission for you, Zelos, Sasuke and Hinata to fulfill. Since the Chosen hasn't reached the Triet Desert, it's occurred to me that there is something strange going on at the Ossa Trail. It's more than likely the next path the Chosen's group will take after the Fire Seal," Yuan explained. "Your mission is to find the cause of this abnormal activity and remove it."_

Sheena had yet to see what was wrong with the place as they searched around. It was relatively peaceful with no monsters crawling around. Almost I instantly after her thoughts, someone latched onto her. She growled angrily. "Zelos, you'd better remove yourself from me or I'll punch you!" Sheena had already socked Zelos a new one before throwing the hopeless Chosen in the opposite direction of where she was facing.

"Come on Sheena! You hit me before you said you were going to! Doesn't Miss Jubilees love me anymore," Zelos said, fake tears streaming down his face.

"Why did you have to come you stupid pervert," Sheena replied annoyed as hell. She then felt herself standing on something other than dirt…It almost felt like a…

"Hey, what's this lever do," Zelos wondered out loud as he pulled it. Sheena felt the ground let up beneath her. It felt like a trap door.

"You mother fu-," Sheena screamed out as she fell. Zelos grinned sheepishly as Sasuke and Hinata stared at him.

"What? It was an accident, I swear," Zelos said ignorantly. They both sigh before walking off, knowing there was some other way in around somewhere.

* * *

_Down the trap door…_

Sheena landed on her feet in a very dark room. She sneezed upon feeling the dirt enter her nose. "Damn that stupid idiotic damned to hell Chosen," Sheena cursed. She then felt very cold, feeling impending bloodlust in the air. She recalled feeling this way before, but she couldn't quite place it. She looked around the darkened room. "Damn, I can't see anything down here." After a minute of searching around aimlessly, the room suddenly lit up by the appearance of multiple flames. It looked ominous as there was angelic writing painted on the ground, covered in what seemed to be centuries old blood. Sheena raised an eye feeling the cold feeling once again. She then saw a boy sitting in the middle of the place. He wore a red jacket with multiple buttons and black pants with two suspenders. He had brown spiky hair and a happy go lucky smile. Sheena blinked twice before taking a step back in shock.

"Lloyd!?!" The boy wore a smile that had always melted away her fears over the past three years. Sheena realized he looked just like Lloyd did three years ago. But then, the boy's smile slowly shifted into an angry scowl and white aura started to surround him. The aura soon clouded his eyes, making them look purely white.

"You're the girl that boy saved," the boy said, his voice tracing at the edge of intense rage. "He let me out of my prison that day, when the he defeated me. Now, finish opening the seal," the boy said pulling out two swords that seemed to be made of darkness itself. Sheena suddenly recognized the feeling she had felt was from the black skeleton the day she met Lloyd. She gulped before forming hand signs. "Now, give in to the darkness that taints your heart," the boy said, now releasing the pent up rage. Sheena had never felt such killing intent before in her life.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" A line of red flames shot at the boy who jumped over it with ease.

"Fiend Fusion!" The boy's speed tripled as he landed on the ground. The boy then ran towards Sheena and swung one of his blades at Sheena. Sheena leapt backwards forming more hand signs. "Lightning Style: Zap Canon Jutsu!" A huge ball of electricity flew towards the boy.

"Demented Ethereality!" The boy was covered up in a black sphere that repelled the attack. The sphere dissipated when the boy lunged out of it at Sheena. Sheena jumped into the air preparing another jutsu.

"Wind Style: Air Bullet!" A large burst of wind shot towards the boy. The boy replied with a simple swing on his swords. The air went around boy as he brought his swords to the ground. Sheena had just landed on the ground and pulled out her cards.

"Demon Fang: Overlimit!" A large black shockwave made its way along the ground. Sheena jumped into the air. The boy screamed and wailed out his rage and misery. The shockwave lifted off the ground and followed after Sheena.

"What the hell!" The shockwave hit Sheena with full force and sent her flying into a wall. The boy stood in front of the kunoichi with a sword pulled behind him.

"Now it's time that the seal with be released! Super Sonic Thrust!" Sheena moved her head to the right as she narrowly avoided a thrust that would have ended her life. Her cheek was barely cut in the process. She quickly moved away and ran towards the exit, only to see the boy waiting for her. Sheena stopped and scowled.

"_Damn it, he's just as good Lloyd was back then…Even now, I haven't improved at all these past few years. Lloyd is still becoming stronger and I'm still as weak as I was back then, depending on him to come and save me," _Sheena thought sadly.

"What's the matter? I thought you were going to fight back this time. Or are you just as weak as you were before," the boy taunted, suddenly changing in appearance. He now seemed older, wearing a black cloak that had a zipper running down the middle. "You were always weak little girl. You failed your village, failed your friends, and failed Lloyd. You're a pathetic weakling who always needs a hero to come and protect her. Cowardice is all that I see in you, you who ran away as her village were slaughtered," the man spoke evilly. He was the spitting image of Lloyd when he left days ago. Sheena felt tear fall down her face upon hearing his cruel words.

"_He's right, I've always was a weak coward."_

"However, that can all change. Come to me Sheena and gain power which you could never imagine in your life. I can give it to you," the Lloyd clone said giving off a cheesy smile, one that caused Sheena to falter. Sheena found herself walking towards him with a dazed expression on her face. The Lloyd clone wrapped his arms around her and smirked. Sheena couldn't bring herself to move away. Then the Lloyd clone bit her neck hard causing her to scream out loudly and fall to the ground, clenching her neck in pain. A black mark appeared on her forming in a tattoo that looked like three tomoes. When she looked up, the room had lost the light and she saw Zelos, Hinata, and Sasuke running towards her. She slowly faded from consciousness hearing her name being called out. Before she completely lost it, she heard a voice.

"_**My name is Dark, it was nice meeting the one he likes…I hope you like my parting gift."**_

With that, Sheena faded from the real world and all she could see was black.

* * *

_Back at the village…_

Lloyd stood amidst the now fallen militia with a bored expression on his face.

"That was way too easy," he commented. He decided that he was sick of the village and decided to grab Naruto and Genis. However, he felt a chill up his spine. He turned towards the desert and had a really bad feeling enter hi being. However, he needed to focus on the task at hand. _"I hope everyone is okay. I can't shake this feeling…I'm counting on you Sheena."

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**That's the end of the chapter. I will admit that I stole the idea of Sheena's new marking from Orochimaru's Curse Mark but the properties won't be entirely the same. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed and I decided that sometime within the week I will post all of Lloyd's artes he currently has on my profile and will update it when I add newer artes. Anyway, stick around and I'll have another chapter soon.**


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